AFAIK, Vanesis didn't disagree either, just as he couldn't rule out murder or suicide from his examinations. The prosecution didn't argue that Sheila couldn't possibly have beaten her already injured father, they argued that it was much more likely to have been Jeremy - who was also visibly uninjured. There is no reason to assume the struggle was anything but brief and one sided. A good left hook from NB might have changed the whole picture but there is no evidence he got the chance.
I'm afraid I don't understand the idea that only Jeremy could have smashed the lightshade with a 4ft rifle?
Dr Vanezis didn’t rule ANYTHING out when doing the post mortems: he was guided by Taff Jones who was present at the PM, who told Dr Vanezis it was definitely a murder/suicide. Dr Vanezis was unsure, given the injuries he saw, but as Taff was so insistent — and had brought no photographs of the soc with the victims in situ, nor brought the rifle (murder weapon) Dr Vanezis reluctantly agreed with Taff that it was
possible
Sheila had committed the murders and then killed herself. But he stressed it was unusual and very strange, and so unusual for a suicide victim to shoot themselves twice.
Dr Vanezis had no reason to doubt Taff; he was a DCI and accepted his account. But he didn’t know at that time how rumours were flying around about Taff’s bizarre behaviour. Some even thought he may have had a brain tumour, but that’s never been established. It’s possible he was in the midst of a breakdown: who knows? Whatever, his behaviour was so bizarre that he was soon thrown off the case and told to take leave...
However, when Dr Vanezis visited WHF the next day with police officers, it became apparent to him that Sheila could not possibly have killed herself, nor beaten Nevill to a pulp. He was horrified. He was angry too. He made a complaint because Taff hadn’t given him any of the photographic evidence; the rifle itself; when he carried out the post mortems. Dr Vanezis had vast experience: he was a lecturer and had carried out thousands of post mortems. He said later that had he seen the soc and rifle, he’d have known immediately that Sheila could not possibly have killed herself, nor beaten Nevill so violently.
Police also proved that Sheila couldn’t have reached the light fitting which smashed into smithereens. Yes, it’s possible in the violent struggle that Nevill could have, but that means he’d have had more control over the rifle and have been able to disarm her. Indeed, Nevill could have disarmed her when she supposedly cut the line off as he was supposedly talking to Jeremy — so the fact he didn’t proves he was overpowered by someone much stronger, bigger and taller than Sheila.
As for suggesting the struggle was brief and one-sided, that would mean Sheila had the strength of Superman and poleaxed Nevill in seconds. That’s simply not true. The struggle went on long enough for Nevill to fight his attacker to the extent that they fought fiercely for the rifle, so much so, that it caused gauges in the underside of the mantel. That wasn’t brief...
Nor could it have been brief for chairs to overturn; the large heavy dining table to veer across the room; stalls to upend; cutlery and bowls to smash down causing glass, china and sugar to scatter all across the floor; the kitchen mat to slide across the room, and ornaments to fall and smash.
You need to remember that Sheila was half Nevill’s size, she was weak, shaky, listless and had no coordination. She was heavily tranquillised which is also debilitating, and what’s more, she adored her father...
You might think under the circumstances a good left hook from Nevill would have been the last resort to end the struggle, but Sheila had not one mark on her face...
Jeremy was apparently wearing a rubber scuba mask along with his wetsuit, so even if Nevill got the chance to punch him, during being poleaxed across the skull exposing his brain, and then shot four times in the head, it’s unlikely any punches would have even reached Jeremy....
I think logic tells us who the murdered was, CS.
And that’s why the jury found Jeremy Bamber guilty.
