I am obviously not an expert on forensics, blood etc but I will always struggle to accept any forensics as facts when we are talking about a silencer the relatives found and took home and dabbled with it !!!
There does seem to be very conflicting stories about the blood and it does not help when evidence in a case appears to be maliciously destroyed while an appeal is being prepared for one of the biggest murder cases in the Essex Police history
What actual FACTS are correct and what is speculation regarding the blood in the silencer ????
John below taken from the official JB Website
The 2002 Appeal and the mystery of blood in the sound moderator
by J, Bamber and J, Martin-Adams, last updated 25.01.13
Part of the prosecution case against Jeremy Bamber at his trial in 1986 involved the claim that a blood flake discovered inside a sound moderator must have originated from Sheila Caffell. Supposedly, the existence of this blood meant that the sound moderator must have been attached to the rifle when the murders were carried out. However, because the moderator was later discovered in the gun cupboard, Sheila could not have committed suicide with it still attached. It is, of course, as the judge put it, ‘inconceivable’ that she could have shot herself and then unscrewed the moderator and put it away.
However, the argument concerning Sheila’s blood was undermined seriously by tests carried out prior to the 2002 appeal,
Laboratory Testing
which involved DNA testing which was not available in 1985.
These tests cast doubt on the claim that Sheila’s blood had ever been present inside the moderator, prompting the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to make a referral to the Court of Appeal during their 2001 investigation.
Background – the significance of the AK enzyme
Human blood is made up of a number of different constituents including red and white blood cells, plasma, and a number of different enzymes. In forensic science, some of these enzymes are used to make the distinction between blood samples from one person and blood samples from another. One example is the AK enzyme, which would become important in the case of Jeremy Bamber.
Human beings have two types of AK enzyme, namely, AK1 and AK2-1[1]. The blood flake discovered inside the sound moderator was analyzed and found to contain the AK1 enzyme, meaning that it could not have originated from June Bamber, whose blood contained AK2-1[2]. The blood of the other deceased family members – Nevill Bamber, Daniel Caffell and Nicholas Caffell – belonged to the AK-1 grouping. David Boutflour and Ann Eaton (the children of Robert and Pamela Boutflour) also shared the AK1 grouping: both handled Nevill Bamber’s sound moderator (DB/1) before giving it to Essex Police[3]. Sheila Caffell’s enzyme blood grouping was A, PGM 1 +, EAP BA, AK1, HP2-1: an identical match to Robert Boutflour, Jeremy’s uncle though marriage to his mother’s sister, Pamela Speakman. Both Robert and Pamela were primary beneficiaries of the estate upon the conviction of Jeremy Bamber[4].
At the 1986 trial, the Court was told that the discovery of the AK-1 enzyme constituted clear evidence that the blood flake found inside the sound moderator came from Sheila Caffell[5].
WHAT THE COURT WAS NOT TOLD ******************************
What the Court was not told was that the AK-1 enzyme found in human blood is genetically identical to the AK-1 enzyme found in the blood of pigs, cattle, rabbits, chickens and carp[6].
The rifle and the sound moderators were used to shoot game and could have been carried alongside rabbits when returning from a shoot.
Had the Court been informed that two types of animal blood were found on the outer surface of the first sound moderator (SBJ/1)[7], perhaps the discovery of the AK-1 enzyme would have been attributed to animal, rather than human, blood.
IMPORTANT
****************************************
Given that this discovery was not disclosed until
after
the 2002 Appeal[8]
****************************************
Non disclosure again???
, the Court was denied the opportunity to consider the significance of this information during the 1986 trial.
