Motive? Both Bamber and Bain were pi$$edoff with their families, wanted a way out and saw a pot of gold within easy reach for little effort... reasons enough.
Now what about why Bain dawdled for 20 plus minutes after seeing his dead parents or listening to Laniet gurgling?
It needs more than just his stock one word answer of "Slow", or that he was having one of those funny turns which conveniently started only a couple of weeks before (or months before until he changed his story).
I think one has to look a lot deeper for motive. Both families were grossly dysfunctional in different ways. They were able to fall under the radar due to pre-conceived ideas about the parents particularly with regard to their affiliations to Christianity/church (there's a lot of insanity there
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BambersUnable to conceive birth children so adopt. By the time June adopted SC she had already suffered one breakdown all connected with her inability to conceive. Having adopted SC she suffered a further breakdown again connected to the same theme.
The Bambers should never have been approved to adopt in the first place let alone keep SC after June's second breakdown and go on to adopt JB.
It seems SC and JB were largely brought up by others: nanny, au pairs and boarding school. The relationship between June and SC seems off the richter scale in terms of dysfunction. JB described his relationship with June as "rough and smooth".
June's religiosity and attitude to sexual morality evidenced by referring to SC as the "Devil's child" for nude sunbathing and JM as a "harlot" for staying over at JB's. Given June's attitude on these matters I find it difficult to see how she was able to view her adopted children, born illegitimate, in a positive light.
BainsMany accounts describe the children as "running wild" in PNG. All the research shows children fare better growing up with clear, consistent and fair boundaries.
What qualified MB to homeschool her children? Her diaries contain spelling mistakes. In any event surely mainstream school is about more than academic attainment and qualifications? It provides opportunity for children to socialise with others outside the family? Also if there are problems at home teachers can often pick up on and report to social services or others eg the twins teachers reporting back to CC re SC.
Numerous accounts that Laniet had turned to prostitution and accused her father of sexually abusing her. She also discussed with others a rape and having a black baby in PNG. The latter appears to have been a "fantasy". Whether the former is true or not it is surely indicative that something is amiss if a child/young woman has such fantasies?
MB seeing the devil everywhere: husband, children, car, newspapers!
The physical state of the parents and their dwellings. Most people manage to keep themselves and property reasonably clean and tidy. Perhaps indicative of depression/mental illness.