Matt McDonald

[simong]

Does anyone have access to his police statements?

Has anybody any knowledge of what he has been doing since 1985?

[goatboy]

On the subject of Mr McDonald I did hear someone say once (may even have been on the blue forum actually believe it or not) that his alibi wasn't actually as watertight as we have been led to believe. I don't know if anyone has heard anything else about this theory?

[starryian]

On the subject of Mr McDonald I did hear someone say once (may even have been on the blue forum actually believe it or not) that his alibi wasn't actually as watertight as we have been led to believe. I don't know if anyone has heard anything else about this theory?

Apparent McDonald was a bit of a 'ladies man' He was married but kept several mistresses with whom he was dating simultaneously. He was a dishonest and disreputable man with a habit of telling lies to impress those around him. He was a true 'Walty Mitty' type character. Just the type for Bamber to manipulate. He would have been 'grist-for-the-mill' to Bamber. However, I do feel this gormless, untrustworthy chancer had nothing whatsoever to do with the killings.

[simong]

@Goatboy, It was Sparkfilms who had looked into McDonald and said that his alibi was not cast iron as stated. He was an interesting poster and it was sad to see him leave the forum.

@starryian, I am certainly interested in McDonald. I read JB's statements to the Police last night. The point when he asks the Police to check with Telecom about the phonecall from WHF is intriguing. I think he was sure that the technology was in place to check up on the call. He receives a call from WHF, he then calls Mugford. So he has received a call and made a call which would completely eliminate him from being the possible killer. If there was a record of them calls, he would have walked out of court a free man. I actually believe that a call was made from WHF that day. I am pretty certain it wasn't Nevill. Who made that call then?

[simong]

The phonecall from Nevill is his alibi. Seems odd to kill your family with what seems to have been a lot of planning involved and have an alibi that cannot be corroborated by telecom or the police.

[starryian]

The phonecall from Nevill is his alibi. Seems odd to kill your family with what seems to have been a lot of planning involved and have an alibi that cannot be corroborated by telecom or the police.

Thank you for your points Simong,
Yes an interesting idea. I think that there is certainly a possibility that Bamber may have used the phone at White House Farm to call his own home. He knew that it had an answering machine. All he had to do was dial his own number listen to the answer phone click in and Bob's your uncle; the call is recorded. He then cycled home erased the tape and no-one is any the wiser - or at least he seem to have thought so.
That's what I figure happened. I really dont think he would leave this to chance, he didnt know whether they could check up on the call and his statements and what he said to Julie Mugford seem to bare this out. I feel he definitely phoned. One think I am certain of, Nevil certainly didn't.
It was all part of his cunning and callous plan.

[John]

Matthew McDonald...a reminder.

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1986/10/09/AS091086026/?s=jeremy+bamber&st=0&pn=1


Julie Mugford's statement re Matthew McDonald.

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=287.0

This is all we have just now Simong.

[goatboy]

It was mentioned in Julie's statement that it was important that a call was made from WHF to Jeremy's house to reinforce the alibi, from a phone with a last number redial memory facility. This makes sense as if the last number redial confirmed a call was made to Goldhanger this would have given credence to Jeremy's story. I suspect whoever committed the murders be it Jeremy or a hitman definitely did call Jeremy's house.

[John]

It was mentioned in Julie's statement that it was important that a call was made from WHF to Jeremy's house to reinforce the alibi, from a phone with a last number redial memory facility. This makes sense as if the last number redial confirmed a call was made to Goldhanger this would have given credence to Jeremy's story. I suspect whoever committed the murders be it Jeremy or a hitman definitely did call Jeremy's house.

It was rather convenient don't you think that the very morning Nevill needed a phone in his bedroom to call the police there was none?  Too much of a coincidence for me.

[starryian]

It was mentioned in Julie's statement that it was important that a call was made from WHF to Jeremy's house to reinforce the alibi, from a phone with a last number redial memory facility. This makes sense as if the last number redial confirmed a call was made to Goldhanger this would have given credence to Jeremy's story. I suspect whoever committed the murders be it Jeremy or a hitman definitely did call Jeremy's house.

It was rather convenient don't you think that the very morning Nevill needed a phone in his bedroom to call the police there was none?  Too much of a coincidence for me.

That is a very good point John,
I suspect that Bamber had something to do with the phone situation at the farm. A modern digital phone was found after the murders under a pile of magazines in perfect working order. I have heard conflicting statements surrounding a BT engineer calling at the farm a few days before the murders to deal with a problem with the line. It appears that a storm had knocked it out a few days before that. However, I am not sure if this is true. It seems to me to be a remarkable coincidence that the newer digital type phone was not connected when there is no reason for it not to be. You made the point that the most important time that Nevill needed a phone and it wasn't there. This speaks volumes. I suspect that Bamber removed it as it would have been a threat to his plan. All a family member had to do was to get to that phone press a button and his plan would have been scuppered.
Moreover Bamber knew that all he had to do was gain access to the house and take the phone off the hook, this would have also disconnected the other phone as there was only one line going into the house. However, I believe Bamber was hedging his bets.

[jackiepreece]

It was mentioned in Julie's statement that it was important that a call was made from WHF to Jeremy's house to reinforce the alibi, from a phone with a last number redial memory facility. This makes sense as if the last number redial confirmed a call was made to Goldhanger this would have given credence to Jeremy's story. I suspect whoever committed the murders be it Jeremy or a hitman definitely did call Jeremy's house.

It was rather convenient don't you think that the very morning Nevill needed a phone in his bedroom to call the police there was none?  Too much of a coincidence for me.

That is a very good point John,

I suspect that Bamber had something to do with the phone situation at the farm. A modern digital phone was found after the murders under a pile of magazines in perfect working order. I have heard conflicting statements surrounding a BT engineer calling at the farm a few days before the murders to deal with a problem with the line. It appears that a storm had knocked it out a few days before that. However, I am not sure if this is true. It seems to me to be a remarkable coincidence that the newer digital type phone was not connected when there is no reason for it not to be. You made the point that the most important time that Nevill needed a phone and it wasn't there. This speaks volumes. I suspect that Bamber removed it as it would have been a threat to his plan. All a family member had to do was to get to that phone press a button and his plan would have been scuppered.
Moreover Bamber knew that all he had to do was gain access to the house and take the phone off the hook, this would have also disconnected the other phone as there was only one line going into the house. However, I believe Bamber was hedging his bets.

You suspect but you don't really know do you

[John]

It was mentioned in Julie's statement that it was important that a call was made from WHF to Jeremy's house to reinforce the alibi, from a phone with a last number redial memory facility. This makes sense as if the last number redial confirmed a call was made to Goldhanger this would have given credence to Jeremy's story. I suspect whoever committed the murders be it Jeremy or a hitman definitely did call Jeremy's house.

It was rather convenient don't you think that the very morning Nevill needed a phone in his bedroom to call the police there was none?  Too much of a coincidence for me.

That is a very good point John,

I suspect that Bamber had something to do with the phone situation at the farm. A modern digital phone was found after the murders under a pile of magazines in perfect working order. I have heard conflicting statements surrounding a BT engineer calling at the farm a few days before the murders to deal with a problem with the line. It appears that a storm had knocked it out a few days before that. However, I am not sure if this is true. It seems to me to be a remarkable coincidence that the newer digital type phone was not connected when there is no reason for it not to be. You made the point that the most important time that Nevill needed a phone and it wasn't there. This speaks volumes. I suspect that Bamber removed it as it would have been a threat to his plan. All a family member had to do was to get to that phone press a button and his plan would have been scuppered.
Moreover Bamber knew that all he had to do was gain access to the house and take the phone off the hook, this would have also disconnected the other phone as there was only one line going into the house. However, I believe Bamber was hedging his bets.

You suspect but you don't really know do you

At the end of the day only Jeremy Bamber knows for sure the sequence of certain events which happened that morning.  The end result is always the same however, Sheila is innocent while Jeremy has blood on his hands.

[starryian]

It was mentioned in Julie's statement that it was important that a call was made from WHF to Jeremy's house to reinforce the alibi, from a phone with a last number redial memory facility. This makes sense as if the last number redial confirmed a call was made to Goldhanger this would have given credence to Jeremy's story. I suspect whoever committed the murders be it Jeremy or a hitman definitely did call Jeremy's house.

It was rather convenient don't you think that the very morning Nevill needed a phone in his bedroom to call the police there was none?  Too much of a coincidence for me.

That is a very good point John,

I suspect that Bamber had something to do with the phone situation at the farm. A modern digital phone was found after the murders under a pile of magazines in perfect working order. I have heard conflicting statements surrounding a BT engineer calling at the farm a few days before the murders to deal with a problem with the line. It appears that a storm had knocked it out a few days before that. However, I am not sure if this is true. It seems to me to be a remarkable coincidence that the newer digital type phone was not connected when there is no reason for it not to be. You made the point that the most important time that Nevill needed a phone and it wasn't there. This speaks volumes. I suspect that Bamber removed it as it would have been a threat to his plan. All a family member had to do was to get to that phone press a button and his plan would have been scuppered.
Moreover Bamber knew that all he had to do was gain access to the house and take the phone off the hook, this would have also disconnected the other phone as there was only one line going into the house. However, I believe Bamber was hedging his bets.

You suspect but you don't really know do you

Yup, Quite impossible to prove, especially at this distance in time. Adds up though doesnt it?