The phone call

[Vertigo Swirl]

It seems I need to start a new thread to discuss this so here goes, my question from another thread:

If the phone didn’t cut off how come Bamber claimed he got an engaged signal when he phoned back and how was Bamber able to phone JM (or was it the police?) if the line to WHF was still connected to his phone?

Furthermore if Nevill didn’t see Sheila go upstairs with a gun how would he know a) that it was Sheila firing it and b) that she had “gone crazy”?

[G-Unit]

If Sheila had locked herself into a downstairs room with the gun and he couldn't get her out Nevill may well have phoned his son. As to the phone, the  BT engineer explained that the connection would clear after a couple of minutes.

[The General]

If Sheila had locked herself into a downstairs room with the gun and he couldn't get her out Nevill may well have phoned his son. As to the phone, the  BT engineer explained that the connection would clear after a couple of minutes.

Correct. In those days there were tariff pulses and after a few it would automatically hang up (16 minutes?) - otherwise people would get £3 million bills off BT for not hanging up correctly.

[Caroline]

It seems I need to start a new thread to discuss this so here goes, my question from another thread:

If the phone didn’t cut off how come Bamber claimed he got an engaged signal when he phoned back and how was Bamber able to phone JM (or was it the police?) if the line to WHF was still connected to his phone?

Furthermore if Nevill didn’t see Sheila go upstairs with a gun how would he know a) that it was Sheila firing it and b) that she had “gone crazy”?

Re: the phone - Bamber would have been able to call Julie - there is testimony by a BT expert - I will try and find it for you.

[Caroline]

If Sheila had locked herself into a downstairs room with the gun and he couldn't get her out Nevill may well have phoned his son. As to the phone, the  BT engineer explained that the connection would clear after a couple of minutes.

What for?

[G-Unit]

That scenario is in YOUR head, G-Unit

Stick to facts, not fairytales and wishful thinking. Even your fairytales are laughable.

I can’t post on here anymore — I just can’t bear reading such sh*t from people who are deluded

Have fun everyone

 

[Vertigo Swirl]

If Sheila had locked herself into a downstairs room with the gun and he couldn't get her out Nevill may well have phoned his son. As to the phone, the  BT engineer explained that the connection would clear after a couple of minutes.

Are you suggesting Bamber didn’t call his dad straight back like he said he did but waited a couple of minutes?
Don’t you think Nevill might have mentioned that Sheila had locked herself in a room downstairs?

[Vertigo Swirl]

Correct. In those days there were tariff pulses and after a few it would automatically hang up (16 minutes?) - otherwise people would get £3 million bills off BT for not hanging up correctly.

16 minutes or 2 minutes?

[The General]

16 minutes or 2 minutes?

Don't know. Between 2 and 16 minutes.
The concept being, the line would have been cut off (between 2 and 16 minutes).

[Vertigo Swirl]

Don't know. Between 2 and 16 minutes.
The concept being, the line would have been cut off (between 2 and 16 minutes).

It would be good to get that one nailed because the worst case scenario is that Jeremy didn’t call his dad back for over 16 minutes ( not that he ever actually did, of course)

[The General]

It would be good to get that one nailed because the worst case scenario is that Jeremy didn’t call his dad back for over 16 minutes ( not that he ever actually did, of course)

It's in the book. I read it, but can't remember the duration....could be 6 minutes

[Caroline]

It would be good to get that one nailed because the worst case scenario is that Jeremy didn’t call his dad back for over 16 minutes ( not that he ever actually did, of course)

A while ago, I tracked  down a telephone engineer who worked on the same type of exchanges and the one in Maldon.

This is what he said - just to add that the Maldon exchange wasn't maned 24/7 so there was no one to physically end the call or apply the howler.

"Right here is the info on Maldon which looks to be a small exchange.
In 1980 it was a Strowger electromechanical exchange with 1098 business
lines and 4170 Residential lines. That old Strowger didn't have
automatic lock-out or parking. Just a lamp to show the engineer that a
line hadn't replaced the phone. He may or may not have bothered to look
at it. They didn't bother with a solitary one, only if there was a lot,
showing a cable fault. He could have applied a howler to the line from
a test set, no indication of how long it had been off-the-hook. The
later ones before system X didn't have logging of events, and they
wouldn't have bothered to record it for some legal reason, not knowing
about the possibility."

[G-Unit]

Mr Adcock, the telecom manager, asked the engineering group responsible for the exchanges. They said it would take between one and two minutes to clear the Goldhanger line so a call could be made. [w/s 3/10/86]

[Vertigo Swirl]

Mr Adcock, the telecom manager, asked the engineering group responsible for the exchanges. They said it would take between one and two minutes to clear the Goldhanger line so a call could be made. [w/s 3/10/86]

In which case Bamber could not have called his father straight back as he said.

[Caroline]

In which case Bamber could not have called his father straight back as he said.

He didn't call him back at all because Nevill didn't call him in the first place.