Actually Ispy, Helen Grimister is a real part of the case, she was Sheila's second cousin and visited WHF when Sheila was there around March 1985. That is indeed part of her statement.
Thank you for correcting me, Caroline. I appreciate that, and I know that you have a huge amount more knowledge of the case than I do, and everything you say I can rely upon.
I’m jumping ahead here assuming that statement by Helen Grimister was taken in the very early days of the murders, when DCI Jones was anxious to paint Sheila in the worst possible light. When the police interviewed that young 13-year-old girl, I can imagine how when she recounted that meeting with Sheila the police wrote it in such a way that made it sound far worse. After all, we know how bad the police conducted the whole case.
It’s quite possible that Helen said ONE of the topics of conversation was suicide, when in fact, Sheila may have just been speaking about her time in hospital and maybe mentioned a patient there who had tried to kill herself. Helen didn’t say Sheila said SHE wanted to kill herself.
And religion would undoubtedly have been touched on, given what a fanatic June was: maybe Sheila simply asked Helen if she was religious too? Helen doesn’t seem to suggest that Sheila was influencing her to join a religious cult.
I’ve read that Sheila was a heavy smoker and also rolled her own cigarettes, and I’d find it strange if Sheila openly smoked cannabis inside the sitting room of the house. June would’ve have gone crazy — you can’t disguise the smell at all. It’s a remote possibility Sheila may have smoked one joint, but I find that very strange. And no-one chain smokes cannabis. I’d take that with a pinch of salt, especially as it seems most unlikely a 13-year-old girl who was probably sheltered living with farmers even knew what cannabis looked like. I’d even go so far to say that those words were put to her by the police and she agreed Sheila was smoking cannabis.
Whatever, Sheila never mentioned to Helen that she hated her family; wanted to kill her twins and parents’; or kill herself. So I strongly suspect that statement was deliberately embellished by the police to put Sheila in a bad light.
DCI Jones was anxious to get the case done and dusted. I actually think HE had some kind of emotional/mental issues himself too. He certainly wasn’t stable, exploding into “purple-faced” rages...