Part II The Siege of White House Farm and Immediate Aftermath
PC West stayed the the line with the caller and gather some much-needed information. It was obviously not a prank call. Bamber's voice sounded laconic and matter-of-fact. He asked West what he should do. Bamber wanted police to collect him on their way to White House Farm, but West urged him to make his own way there and rendezvous with officers who would be in attendance outside.
The constable then contacted Witham station, which was seven miles closer to Tolleshunt. D’Arcy At 03.35, patrol car CA7 was dispatched from Witham. Although he lived just a few minutes’ drive from his parents’ property, Bamber was overtaken by the white Ford Sierra as it sped towards the village of Tolleshunt D’Arcy.
At 03.48 the three occupants – Sergeant Bews and PCs Myall and Saxby – reached Pages Lane, the private road leading to White House Farm. A few minutes later, Bamber arrived at the scene. The three officers were parked a short distance into the lane; Bamber pulled up behind them and left his silver Astra to speak with them. After identifying himself, he was asked to clarify what his father had managed to tell him before being abruptly cut off. The young man reiterated that Nevill, sounding very distressed, had asked him to come over at once because his sister Sheila had gone crazy and got hold of a gun. Sheila (whose married name of Caffell he couldn’t recall), was “a nutter” and recent psychiatric in-patient. As was to be expected, there were a number of guns on the farm, and Sheila was capable of handling them. Bamber told the officers that his mother June also lived at the house, and Sheila’s children, six year old Daniel and Nicholas, were staying on the farm.
The picture Bamber painted outside the farmhouse alarmed the waiting policemen and made them feel uneasy. Bamber readily referred to his sister's mental illness often and without prompting. Two adults and two children were potentially at the mercy of a mental patient wielding a firearm which she may or may not have discharged. The officers’ first step would be to approach with caution and make a visual assessment. Ideally, Nevill would now have control of the situation and would emerge from the farm house to greet them. The police could then decide whether Sheila needed medical assistance or should be taken into custody.
Everyone present remembered later a feeling of total bewilderment as to what was actually going on. Information at this point was in very short supply making the already tense situation even worse.
Bamber along with other officers walked down pages lane towards the house. PC Saxby meanwhile, was manning the radio in his police car. Suddenly Bamber ducked and whispered loudly with some urgency - 'Is that someone up there'? PC Bewes accompanying Bamber initially thought he'd also seen something until he moved his head slightly and realised it was just a reflection of the moon on the window pane. Nevertheless the trio retreated and a decision was made to call the Tactical Firearms Group.
Shortly before 05.25, a challenge was issued using a loudhailer to anyone inside the property.
The wireless operator pre-empted events and recorded “Firearms team are in conversation with a person inside the farm”. However, the call to persons inside met only with silence. The wireless operator updated the log at 05.29
“From CA7 – Challenge to persons inside house met with no response"
Additional firearms officers arrived at 06.45 and were greeted by Sergeant Bews. Fresh on the scene, PC Woodcock from the Firearms Training Department was told by his colleagues that a siege was underway and a young woman with mental health issues was presumed either to have killed everyone or to be holding them hostage. Whatever had taken place, there had been no response from anyone in the farm at any time, and because of this the group were preparing to force entry into the property.
Inspector Montgomery and Police Sergeant Adams put together the raid team, consisting of PCs Collins, Delgado, Woodcock, Hall, Alexander-Smart and acting Sergeant Manners. The team, working from a plan of the building sketched by Jeremy, divided the property into “White”, “Green” and “Black” zones. Woodcock was nominated to break down the rear door using a sledgehammer. Collins and Delgado lined up on one side of the door. To their right was the kitchen window. Collins peered inside and reported seeing the body of a woman.
At approximately 07:30 Woodcock a strong and large man, sledgehammered the thick wooden door at the rear of the property. The door proved a stubborn obstacle and several hefty blows were required to splinter the door around the bolts and finally gain access.
The Team bomb-burst through the door and swarmed into the property in disciplined formation the way they had been trained. The men's faces were grim, and set. Each man was coiled for violence; their semi automatic weapons at the ready, safety catches off. Their senses heightened by the unpredictability of the nights events made the situation feel all the more tense.
As the armed officer led the others into the property, he turned into the kitchen and saw the same person witnessed by Collins, obviously dead. In fact it was not a woman but 61-year old Nevill Bamber. A chair was on its side to the left of an Aga oven, and Nevill’s corpse was sat awkwardly on one edge of the backrest. He was slumped forward with arms at his side and his head fully inside a silver-topped bucket – a coal scuttle. Blood had run thickly down the sides of this hod. The body was facing the window Collins had looked through, and all that was visible of Nevill’s head was a dishevelled shock of grey hair. This was why Collins had mistaken farmer Bamber for an old woman. The sight was made more protracted by the sickly sweet smell of blood that lingered heavily in the humid, fetid and still air.
With Collins having stated over his police radio that he’d seen a woman in the kitchen, and Woodcock now reporting the body of a man, the wireless operator made the following entry at 07.37:
“one dead male and one dead female in kitchen”.
In the meantime, yet more horrors were awaiting the young men of the Tactical Firearms Group as PC Delgado peered into his mirror to look nervously up the stairs he immediately saw another body. This time it proved to be that of 61 year old June Bamber. Shot multiple times, June's corpse was a gruesome sight. Her nightie was covered in deep, crimson blood which clung to her small, slender body like a limpet. It was clear that she had been shot in her bed and has managed to walk the short distance to the door, where she was shot again, this time between the eyes, killing her instantly.
Delgado furtively scanned the room and noticed a pair of feet protruding beyond the end of the bed. This was 27 year old daughter Sheila. A gun lay precariously across her chest laying across her sternum. A large patch of blood clearly visible on the right of her nightie just below her neck. Other than that her body appeared to be spotlessly clean. Her rich, lush hair looked like it had recently been washed and her nail polish looked immaculate. However, It was clear to the officers that she had been shot. Whether or not a member of the team checked for any signs of life or checked the weapon to make sure it was safe is unclear.
The officers moved on down the hall to a room situated close to where Sheila's room would have been. They opened the door. It contained two single beds which were clearly occupied. Initially it was thought its two occupants both young children; were sounds asleep. However on closer inspection it was revealed that they too had been shot multiple times and in quick succession. Heartbreakingly, one of the little boys still had his thumb in his mouth.
The Team quickly secured the property and handed control back to the police outside, no doubt relieved to finally be leaving this hellish scene.
Meanwhile 24 year old son Jeremy - now the familiy's sole survivor - was sitting with PC Saxby in his Ford Sierra patrol car. He told him that Sheila was familiar with guns and that they had gone target shooting together. He said he had been at the farmhouse himself the night before and had loaded the rifle because he thought he had heard rabbits outside. He’d left it on the kitchen table fully loaded, with a box of ammunition nearby, he explained, without a trace of guilt.
After the bodies were discovered, a doctor, Dr. Craig, was called to the house to certify the deaths, which he testified could have occurred at any time during the night. He informed Bamber what had occurred inside. He said Bamber appeared to be in a state of shock, broke down, cried, and seemed to vomit. Bamber then, rather strangely kept asking the police present why he couldn’t see his father. "Why can't my father come out" he kept repeating, as a child might. The doctor sensing that Bamber was not taking the news in decided to tell him forcefully the truth. "Look! he said, grabbing Bamber by both shoulders. “They are all dead.. You must understand this Jeremy.” They are all dead" Bamber stopped the calling and simply said "You're a hard b........" and appeared to weep.
The doctor said Bamber told him about the discussion the family had had about possibly having Sheila's sons placed in foster care. Dr Craig rubbed his chin as if deep in thought, looked wishut uplly at the ground and silently walked away.
Police were understandably concerned how this young man might react to the news. Bamber was now the only living member of a family that had until the previous evening been a family of six. As events unfolded that tragic morning, DCI 'Taff' Jones now leading the investigation asked for Bamber to be escorted home.
He was duly escorted back to his cottage in Goldhanger. Once inside Bamber immediately stated to the two detectives that accompanied him 'Im starving.........do you fancy some breakfast'?
One of the detectives, DS Stan Jones, an experienced and deeply intuitive man, cast a furtive, sideways glance at his colleague and politely declined.
Jeremy proceeded to cook and eat a substantial meal much to the bewilderment of the two detectives present.
Jones sensed something was not quite adding up here, but cast these to the back of his mind. Something about this young man's behaviour unsettled him. The ostentatious scene outside the farmhouse that he'd witnessed and the almost theatrical denials of what had occurred inside set Jones thinking. He knew that everyone grieves differently. In his career he had witnessed it countless times, but this is something different. He had a strong feeling that Bamber was 'putting it on' Acting it out and forcing himself rather than letting the emotion come naturally.
Jones shook his head. He pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind. For now he had other matters to attend to such as the copying his notes, going to the brief back at the station and the whole business of trying to make sure that this young man was coping with events that had just happened. Bamber seemed unnaturally unconcerned by what had just occurred. Jones reasoned he may just be in shock and shrugged his shoulders. It was going to be a long day....
