Nevill Bamber would never have gone against the law! He was a magistrate for goodness sake! Like it or not, magistrates do have principles. JB was a thorn in his side, always bucking the system, yet still NB stood by him. There is no way NB would have planted a....all but small...field of Poppies unless it was approved by law. NB was against any form of drugs, even sending his nephew packing from WHF when he found he was using cannabis, then locking the cannabis into his Safe in his office, only for JB to imply to A E that this cannabis was NB's by saying "they would find a surprise when they looked into the Safe" after the murders. ( This also tells us that JB had been looking in the Safe himself hence BW's statement saying NB wanted to change the hiding place of the Safe key! ) The same thing applies when JB told Dr Craig they had a licence to grow opium poppies even though it appears they weren't duty bound to send a letter to confirm this. JB could well have only mentioned the poppies because he had picked some himself...probably to make him sick...therefore covering the reason he picked them in the first place. The whole point of DS Harris Statement was to confirm his movements on the morning after the murder. Speaking to Dr Craig about the poppies was part of his explanation of his movements....We went ( Dr Craig and DS Harris ) to look at small area in a field to the right hand side of Pages Lane. We returned to the farm gateway where Dr Craig remained whilst I returned to the back of the house and spoke to DCI Jones regarding arrangements being made to interview JB".
No mention about the poppies. Dr Craig did mention earlier that JB bent over and looked like he was being sick.
Most of us have principles. Is there any evidence showing magistrates are more principled than non-magistrates?
I haven't heard a bad word said against NB. And I agree it seems unlikely he would be involved in any sort of wrongdoing but a good police investigation surely keeps an open mind and doesn't rule anything or anyone in or out until the matter has been thoroughly investigated? Over the last few years we have witnessed wrongdoing and incompetence on a grand scale in places we would not expect: banking, Iraq war, child sex abuse by clergy, Harold Shipman, Jimmy Savile to name but a few examples. One of the reasons given for how these events occurred was that too few people challenged the status quo.
I doubt the cannabis found in the safe belonged to Roland Pargeter. The Bambers had RP staying with them during 1973 in an attempt to rid him of hide cannabis habit. Why would NB keep a small piece of cannabis in his safe for 12 years? He would surely destroy it?
It comes down to this: written testimony exists from a medical doctor and police chief superintendent, both highly experienced, that WHF had a special licence to grow opium poppies based on what they were told by JB and observing the poppies in situ. If this was found not to be the case why wasn't JB interviewed about it and why wasn't it used against him at trial? If the police didn't investigate this, why not? JB agreed to EP destroying the carpets at their suggestion. As far as I'm aware this didn't extend to the opium poppies?
MM's property was searched and his cannabis plants sent for analysis. I would expect EP to ask to see the special licence, check out who issued it and confirm all was in order and send the plants for analysis.
Chief Sup Harris did make reference to the opium poppies in his witness statement.
"He [Dr Craig] asked if I knew the farm was specially licenced to grow opium poppies, which I was not, and as a result we both went to look at a small area in a field on the right hand side of Pages Lane about a quarter of a mile beyond the farmhouse."
http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=157.0;attach=106http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=157.0;attach=108Small area doesn't mean a small number of poppies. The whole field could be filled with opium poppies with Dr Craig and Chief Sup Harris looking at a small area.
