Were the White House Farm killings a Joint Enterprise?

[John]

Goodness Ian...you've been busy!!   

[John]

The idea of a joint enterprise case is a very real one. It would have gone to court if things had turned out differently and the jury would of been faced with the question to answer as to whether if Julie was aware Jeremy was planning the criems, why didn't she speak up?

Did she not want to speak up?
Or did she not take him seriously?

This is what I struggle with.  I know it's nowhere near on the scale of what happened at Whitehouse Farm, but I have been in the position where someone I was friends/colleagues with was basically admitted to me and others that he was abusing his wife and nobody believed him.  Nobody.  He was funny, intelligent, a great worker and always ready to listen to people - everyone trusted him.  He ended up being arrested and imprisoned after he tried to strangle her, and I've never forgiven myself for not doing something.  It's incredibly hard to explain, especially on a forum, but we're talking about 15-20 people that were completely suckered by him.  I don't believe he was a psychopath, which seems to be the go-to explanation for this kind of behaviour, but I do believe he had a personality disorder of some type which allowed him to rationalise his behaviour.  This is part of the problem I have with Jeremy Bamber - people want to talk in absolutes about whether he is a psychopath but unfortunately there are shades of grey with psychological disorders, and they can't be diagnosed on a forum.  It's no good telling me what Psychiatrists DIDN'T say about him - I want to know what they DID say.  OK, he may not be a psychopath but does he suffer from another personality disorder? 

In short, I believe that JB could have flatly told JM that he was going to kill his family and shown her bullets with their names engraved on them.  Whether she could bring herself to believe he was going to do it is a different matter altogether.

Absolutely only me.  Can you imagine the problems which face police officers when it comes to domestic violence situations?  No wonder such incidents are referred to casually as "Just a domestic!"   Problem is and I have seen this time and time again in my own career, these so-called 'just domestics' have at least a chance of leading to something more sinister but how is anyone to know.  The old saying "What goes on behind closed door should stay behind closed doors" may sound all very well but it does absolutely nothing for the victim.

[Tim Invictus]

IMO Bamber was very much a Walter Mitty type character; always trying to shock and swim against the norm. Bigging himself up all day long like Gladys Belton does. I imagine Julie hated all his talk of killing his family but didn't for one minute take him seriously.

I agree with Abs reservations about Julie's behaviour after the murders and I am sure Julie herself is quite ashamed of what she did or rather didn't do. I think she was in shock and way out of her depth and just not thinking straight and she also didn't think anyone would believe her. Especially as the case was basically closed by the police when they announced it was a murder suicide by Sheila.

IMO opinion Julie was caught up in Bamber's nightmare and just took too long to come to her senses. Naive and perhaps scared rather than anything sinister on Julie's part I would say.

She deserves condemnation for taking the News Of The World blood money but went a long way to redeeming herself by being an excellent witness who could not be swayed from the truth. No to Joint Enterprise!   

[Joanne]

Id on't think she is guilty of Joint Enterprise, JE as I understood it was being part of the actual murder eg driving the getaway car or being there but not trying to stop it or something.
I thought like with holding what you know or think you know something away from the police was a charge all on it's own?

[Somewhere south]

I don't think she's guilty of JE either.
There have been other cases of murderers threatening to kill their victims beforehand to people who've not taken them seriously such as this one
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143195/Teenager-Emily-Longley-boyfriend-enraged-photos-Cheeky-Butt-Butlers.html
Know this case quite well and he actually told everyone including his parents, victim and numerous friends that he was going to murder her yet not one of them thought he was serious or reported it to the police.