It strikes me that there are so many assumptions based on thin air. I had until the last day or so thought the perp used the cartridges on the kitchen worktop but this makes little sense when the numbers just don't add up.
I don't think the cartridges on the worktop were used in the handling tests as 23 of the 30 cartridges were used in connection with test firing:
http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=197.0;attach=659
This would mean only 7 cartridges were avaialble for the handling test and we know the perp must have loaded at least 15.
I know the mag takes a max of 10 does this still allow for a bullet in the breech? Ie 9 in the mag and 1 in the breech or 10 in the mag and 1 in the breech? Or am I showing my ignorance and I've got it completely wrong?
Also it was only when you said SC may have innocently touched the cartridges whilst talking with Auntie Pam on the phone that I realised the the conversation may have taken place in the kitchen. I had always imagined it taking place in the lounge. Did WHF have tel points in rooms other than kitchen, office and main bedroom?
A month prior to the murders there regular phone setup was:
1) cordless phone in the kitchen
2) wired phone in the kitchen
3) wired phone in the upstairs office
4)wired phone in the bedroom
By the time of the murders they had gotten rid of the cordless phone so the kitchen had but one phone. The regular kitchen phone was unplugged and hidden so at the time of the phone call with Pam only 2 phones were plugged in- the rotary phone normally in the bedroom was in the kitchen and the upstairs office still had its phone. At the time of the call they were all still in the kitchen and thus used that phone to speak to Pam. So if the bullets had been dumped there as Jeremy claimed than his mother and Sheila would both have seen the bullets and why would they leave them spilled there? I can't imagine June not either putting them in back in the tray, telling Nevill to put them in the tray or just dumping them all in a bag and telling Nevill to take care of them. Just leaving the there makes no sense and Jeremy's claim that is where he would always load the magazine makes no sense. He always would go into the kitchen to load it instead of loading it in the office? That doesn't sound right at all.
What if we decide that Jeremy lied about getting the gun out to shoot rabbits and leaving it and the bullets out in the kitchen where does that leave us? There are 3 possibilities:
1) Jeremy used bullets from a different source then dumped those bullets there after the murders
2) Jeremy used some bullets from a different source and some from that source and dumped those bullets there during the course of the murders while using the supply to reload
3) Jeremy used some bullets from a different source and some from that source; and after the murders were over relocated those bullets from wherever he had the when using the to reload to the location in the kitchen to stage the scene.
We can't be sure which of these is the case. Only Jeremy knows the answer and he never told anyone including Julie.
With respect to how many were in the weapon Jeremy made no claim of loading 11. He said he loaded 8-10 and after coming back he removed the one he chambered and put it back in the magazine. So at the time the weapon was supposedly found it would not have any bullets in it just the magazine would be loaded.
At minimum Jeremy used 5 rounds from another box. All 25 used in the killings might have been from another box or it could be a mix of some from another box and some from the kitchen supply. How many were in the magazine doesn't really play any role in the math since he claims the magazine was loaded from the kitchen supply. We simply know that is impossible because at minimum there are 5 bullets too many.
