Why Would Sheila Have Used a Gun When She Didn’t Know How to Work One?

[Holly Goodhead]

So she was calm when she went on her murder spree, in your view?

Clearly the mind was severely disturbed but I don't believe this would preclude someone from refilling the mag and pulling the trigger.

[The General]

NB was already near death before the magazine needed refilling.

Which is when I believe Bamber additionally subdued him with the beating. Once he'd beat him senseless he had a window of opportunity to reload.

[APRIL]

You haven't factored in motivation.

Ha! For you, Holly, I think it might be a determination to not being beaten!! I fail to see what Sheila's might have been, given that she was adequately medicated, so wouldn't be experiencing those thoughts responsible for her previous breakdowns, during which, the only person she'd turned on, was herself.

[ISpyWithMyEye]

I think people in the UK perceive the rifle as complex as to most its infamiliar.  In the US where firearms are everyday items they perceive it differently.

I honestly can't see what is remotely complex about it.  I gave the example of a twin buggy because they are far more complex to operate than the rifle with far more moving parts and much heavier.

What is remotely complex about loading the mag, attaching it to the rifle, pulling back on the lever and then the trigger

https://youtu.be/b6I8lgiagFU

Where is the complexity/skill in preparing the weapon for fire?

You’ve never fired a fully loaded rifle, Holly

You just went into a gun shop and asked to if you could load it, and the man allowed you to. With all due respect, you have no experience of shooting whatsoever, so you’re not qualified to say how difficult it would have been for Sheila — especially as she couldn’t focus well; was shaky; lacked coordination; and was so stiff due to her medication she walked like a slow zombie.

You complain about the ballistics expert at the trial “only” having 13 years experience, but you’ve got NONE.

Anyway, we know Sheila wasn’t the killer, it was Jeremy. And what’s more, he never left thta gun out, I don’t believe it.

He hid it.

[Myster]

I don't shoot, but I've shot with a .22 rifle as has anyone who has used the ranges at the fairground in the 1960's.

That would have been an air-rifle firing tiny lead pellets, not a semi-auto using propellant-driven cartridges... far too dangerous at any Silcocks fairground.

[Common sense]

I think people in the UK perceive the rifle as complex as to most its infamiliar.  In the US where firearms are everyday items they perceive it differently.

I honestly can't see what is remotely complex about it.  I gave the example of a twin buggy because they are far more complex to operate than the rifle with far more moving parts and much heavier.

What is remotely complex about loading the mag, attaching it to the rifle, pulling back on the lever and then the trigger

https://youtu.be/b6I8lgiagFU

Where is the complexity/skill in preparing the weapon for fire?

It's not that complex, even for a novice who was only given a practical demonstration a few hours before but you conveniently forget that after loading the rifle, she goes off, finds and attaches the silencer in her deranged state of mind.

It's also worth noting that there is a knack to pulling back the lever - You have to pull it back and let go. Bamber surely didn't chamber a round in a kitchen with 3 other people in it. MF broke a nail when he was testing it.

[barrier]

NB was already near death before the magazine needed refilling.

You know that because?

[Vertigo Swirl]

I think people in the UK perceive the rifle as complex as to most its infamiliar.  In the US where firearms are everyday items they perceive it differently.

I honestly can't see what is remotely complex about it.  I gave the example of a twin buggy because they are far more complex to operate than the rifle with far more moving parts and much heavier.

What is remotely complex about loading the mag, attaching it to the rifle, pulling back on the lever and then the trigger

https://youtu.be/b6I8lgiagFU

Where is the complexity/skill in preparing the weapon for fire?

If I had never loaded a gun before I would not want to attempt to do so without guidance for fear of the whole thing blowing up in my face.  Maybe as she was allegedly suicidal she didn’t care if that happened or not. 

[Vertigo Swirl]

Clearly the mind was severely disturbed but I don't believe this would preclude someone from refilling the mag and pulling the trigger.

You seem to want it both ways - calm, yet deranged.

[Vertigo Swirl]

I don't shoot, but I've shot with a .22 rifle as has anyone who has used the ranges at the fairground in the 1960's.

Did you have to fill a magazine with live ammunition and attach it to the gun first, out if interest?

[The General]

If I had never loaded a gun before I would not want to attempt to do so without guidance for fear of the whole thing blowing up in my face.  Maybe as she was allegedly suicidal she didn’t care if that happened or not.

Good point. And if Bamber's narrative is to be believed, then surely Sheila, having struggled to dispatch her parents with multiple shots (mercifully the sleeping twins may have met a swift end), why would she then consider the .22 rifle adequate to kill herself with a single shot?
Yes, Bamber had the seeming presence of mind to go for the fleshy part under the chin to stage his scene - and even that didn't work first time, which must have been much to his chagrin, blowing a hole in his story (no pun intended).

[The General]

Did you have to fill a magazine with live ammunition and attach it to the gun first, out if interest?

Most don't need to be full. You could add a few rounds if the spring is doing it's job. Didn't CAL's book refer to him only partially reloading at one point?

[Caroline]

Freddie also stated the ranting and raving stopped as quickly as it started with periods of calm where SC brushed her hair before the ranting and raving resumed.

OK, so equate calm and brushing her hair with loading a rifle and shooting the whole family, how is that calm? Speechless!

[Vertigo Swirl]

Most don't need to be full. You could add a few rounds if the spring is doing it's job. Didn't CAL's book refer to him only partially reloading at one point?

I don’t know, my point wasn’t whether or not G-Unit had to completely fill the magazine with bullets when she was at the funfair but whether she had to do it at all.  She seems to be trying to make out that loading and firing an Anschutz is something that most people of a certain age would be familiar with, which is patently ballcocks of the first order, IMO.

[Caroline]

Sheila Caffell could have been messing with guns for years without others being aware.

As opposed to Bamber who we KNOW 'messed with them'? You can't see that you're making excuses.