Jeremy Bamber’s bid to release evidence in White House Farm murder case dismissed
Jeremy Bamber has always maintained he was not responsible for the murders at White House Farm in 1985 Picture: ANDREW HUNTER/PA - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Jeremy Bamber’s bid for the release of evidence which he claims could clear his name and overturn his murder convictions has been dismissed by the High Court.
Mr Bamber has protested his innocence since his trial in 1986 Picture: PA/PA ARCHIVE - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images
Bamber, 59, is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of murdering his adoptive parents Nevill and June, both 61, his sister Sheila Caffell, 26, and her six-year-old twins Daniel and Nicholas at White House Farm, Essex, in August 1985.
However, he has always protested his innocence and claims Ms Caffell, who suffered from schizophrenia, was responsible for the murders before turning the gun on herself.
In Bamber’s trial in 1986, it was determined Ms Caffell could not have reached the trigger to kill herself if the silencer was attached to the murder weapon.
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Bamber’s lawyers claim the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not disclosed material about a second silencer which is said to have been found at White House Farm, which they argue is relevant to his latest attempt to overturn his conviction.
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Joe Stone QC, representing Bamber, told a remote High Court hearing last week that “it now seems almost certain that there is a second sound moderator” - evidence he suggested could “significantly undermine the prosecution case”.
The court also heard that Carol Ann Lee - whose book formed the basis for the ITV drama White House Farm - had been given “a number of sensitive case documents” by the original investigating officer, former detective superintendent Michael Ainslee, who is said to have later destroyed the items at his home.
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Mr Stone argued his client would be “significantly handicapped” in mounting a fresh bid to overturn his convictions through the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice, without the evidence.
Giving judgment remotely on Friday, Mr Justice Julian Knowles dismissed the latest legal action brought by Bamber in his long-running battle to clear his name.
Mr Knowles said: “I am unable to say that the CPS erred in law in refusing to make the disclosure sought.
“I am not, on the material I have seen, readily able to accept the premise that the existence of a second sound moderator is capable of affecting the safety of the claimant’s convictions in any meaningful way.
“The facts are that the moderator which was found had Ms Caffell’s blood in it, and she could not have shot herself when the sound moderator was attached to the rifle.”
MORE: Murderer Jeremy Bamber: New White House Farm ITV drama is ‘a disgrace’
