FROM CAL'S BOOK - RECONSTRUCTIONS BY POLICE, SENIOR SCIENTIFIC OFFICER FOR BALLISTICS, MALCOLM FLETCHER, PATHOLOGIST, DR PETER VANEZIS AND AUTHOR, CAROL ANN LEE.
Police
"The official police account of how Jeremy Bamber killed his family is contained in the report to the Director of Public Prosecutions in November 1985, written with a view to having him committed for trial.
Acknowledging that the order of death could not be determined with certainty, the report contends that:
...there were probably ten shots fired in the first fusillade [four into Nevill, one into Sheila and five into June] and the remaining three - two into June's head, one into Sheila's head- were inflicted after Ralph Nevill was killed in the kitchen. Eight shots were fired into the boys - eight cases were recovered in their bedroom. Four shots were fired into Ralph Nevill in the kitchen - namely, the two in his temple area and the two in the top of his head. Three cartridge cases were recovered in the kitchen. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the fourth cartridge case was carried on the feet of the killer, or possibly a police officer, and deposited on the stairway.
Senior Scientific Officer - Malcolm Fletcher
Ballistics expert Malcolm Fletcher believes that Jeremy fired eight shots into his parents first, and that Nevill escaped to try and raise the alarm using the telephone downstairs, while Jeremy forced Sheila into the master bedroom, where he shot her once; after killing Nevill, her returned to fire the fatal shots at June, and another at Sheila before expending the remaining bullets on Nicholas and Daniel.
Pathologist - Dr Peter Vanezis
However, pathologist Peter Vanezis is of the opinion that the twins may have been the first to die.
Author - Carol Ann Lee
Climbing the stairs, he steeled himself to kill the greatest threats first: his parents. A thin film of moonlight glimmered through the curtains in the master bedroom, where his parents lay sleeping. He stood in the doorway, lifted the rifle, and fired.
The first two shots pierced the right side of June's chest, embedding themselves in the pillow. Another shot hit her in the arm and a third travelled up inside her leg, lodging in her knee. The terrible impact woke Nevill, who lurched out of bed. Jeremy turned the gun on his father, firing four shots that caught him on his left side: two bullets penetrated his forearm and shoulder, and two tore into his lip and jaw.
Jeremy left the room, heading down the first flight of stairs and through the corridor to the twins' bedroom, firing one shot into each slumbering child. With all ten cartridges expended, he made his way down to the kitchen to reload.
He managed to slot four cartridges into the magazine before his father stumbled into the room. A fierce fight for possession of the weapon ensued: they fell against the table, knocking it into the dresser and sending crockery to the floor. The rifle struck the overhead lampshade, shattering it. Jeremy used the gun to beat his father about the arms, head and face; Nevill's watch broke and skittered across the lino. The struggle came to a brutal end near the Aga, where the rifle damaged the underside of the mantel. As Nevill collapsed over a chair, landing at an impossible angle with his pyjamas tangling around his feet, Jeremy brought the gun down on his skull, then fired four shots into his head.
The last produced a stovepipe jam, trapping the empty cartridge case in the ejection port. Jeremy removed the magazine and loaded it to its full capacity, then inserted it into the magazine well. Climbing the stairs again, he cleared the jammed cartridge by working the bolt. It fell out, rolling towards the skirting board on the first landing.
While father and son were fighting in the kitchen, June had managed to force herself up from bed. The commotion had also woken Sheila, who crossed the landing to her parents' bedroom, drowsy and confused. At the sight of her mother bleeding profusely as she steadied herself on the edge of the bed, Sheila rushed to the other side of the room, where the door to the box room was the quickest route to the twins. June staggered round the bed after her, but before she could reach Sheila, Jeremy returned with the gun.
Sheila froze. June started towards her son, who fired three more shots into her neck, head and finally between the eyes. June hit her shoulder against the door as she slumped to the floor.
Jeremy then forced Sheila down beside the bed and shot her once in the throat. With six cartridges left in the rifle, he headed back down the corridor where he fired two further shots into Nicholas and four into Daniel, emptying the magazine. The element of 'overkill' would help his story that Sheila, in the grip of psychosis, was the guilty party.
He then retraced his footsteps to the master bedroom, intending to finish setting the scene. To his shock he found his sister incapacitated but still alive. Quickly, he returned to the kitchen, loading a single cartridge into the magazine. Upstairs once more, he crouched down and took aim. The bullet went into Sheila's brain, killing her instantly.
My reconstruction will follow shortly....
