Julie Mugford's evidence sealed the deal, she put the meat on the bones, she provided the missing pieces to the puzzle. I have long wondered why Jeremy Bamber took her into his confidence to the extent he did if he planned a family murder. Was he so naive as to think that she would stand by him after committing such a dreadful deed?
My own view is that Essex Police wrestled with the case since officers like Taff Jones actually believed Jeremy Bamber to be innocent. They got it right in the end though, the evidence proves it!
I accept that the silencer taken at face value is very compelling evidence against JB but I understand this is likely to be undermined as a result of further forensic tests.
As far as I can see all the other aspects have already been undermined:
- Had the silencer not been used then the rifle would contain SC's blood in/on around muzzle.
FALSE Hundreds of firearms involving contact shots were examined in US for the prescence of blood. A significant % showed an absence of blood.
(Dr Vincent DiMaio)
- Had SC been responsible her nightdress would have contained blood from victims.
FALSE There's no reliable indicator for the prescene of blood spatter from gsw's. In any event only 2 areas of SC's nightdress were tested. Maybe areas not tested contained victims' blood but since the nightdress has now been destroyed we will never know! Also the rifle, found on SC's person and resting on her nightdress, did contain some blood smears and splashes but these blood stains do not appear to have been transferred to her nightdress or if they did they were not detected from within the 2 areas tested.
(Prof Herb MacDonnel)
- Had SC used the rifle her fingerprints would be all over it.
FALSE Latent fingerprints are difficult to recover from firearms due to the coating known as bluing.
(Dr John Bond)
- Had SC used the ammo her fingers/hands would contain debris.
FALSE Based on my own visit to a gun shop where I loaded the exact same bullets into the Anschutz mag my fingers/hands were spotlessly clean to the naked eye.
(My experience)
- Had SC used the rifle her nightdress would contain gun oil.
FALSE I have never read anything in forensic text books about gun oil as evidence of anyone discharging a firearm. However given the rifle was found resting on SC's person/nightdress if any gun oil was on the rifle then surely it would have been detected whether SC was perp or victim.
(Me)
- Had SC used the rifle her fingers/hands would contain GSR.
TRUE BUT FALSE! Had SC's hands been swabbed at SOC shortly after the rifle had been discharged then GSR may well have been found on the swabs. However as we know SC's hands were not swabbed until afternoon of 7th Aug which was many hours after the rifle was last discharged. Furthermore her hands were moved at SOC twice and placed in bags. The bags were not examined for the prescence of GSR. In this case the prescence of GSR could be argued both ways since SC was found in an environment where the rifle had been discharged many times and her hands/fingers were found resting on the rifle.
(The entire forensic science community)
- Had SC used the rifle she would have damaged her hands/nail polish
FALSE Based on my visit to the gun shop above nothing could be simpler than loading the bullets into the mag. Far more straightforward than having to lever a battery out of say a remote control and then replace. SC led an independent life and was mother to two young boys which involves far more hazardous activities to nails/polish than loading mag, attaching to rifle, chambering a round and pulling trigger.
(My experience)
