Could Jeremy Bamber Finally Be Exonerated?

Matthew Steeples asks: “As highly respected forensic scientist Philip Boyce finds yet more serious flaws in the evidence that led to Jeremy Bamber’s conviction, could this result in this 61-year-old finally being exonerated?”

This weekend, BBC Expert Witness star Philip Boyce threw another spanner in the works of Essex Police and those trying to thwart a reinvestigation of the October 1986 conviction of Jeremy Bamber of the killings of his adoptive parents, his adoptive sister and her two sons at White House Farm in Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex in August 1985.

In a feature interview shown on YouTube just days after another programme, White House Farm murders – Is Jeremy Bamber Innocent?, also aired its first of three episodes also, Boyce revisited a key piece of evidence used by Essex Police that helped them in the case they built against a then 24-year-old, who is now aged 61 and who has spent 36 years of his life in prison.

In a 1:58-minute clip during an experiment in which he used an identical AGA to that that was in White House Farm in 1985, highly respected forensic scientist Boyce shared:

“Today, I was looking at the possibility that the burnmarks on Nevill Bamber’s back had been produced by part of the AGA whenever it was on full heat.”

“Thankfully, we actually got an AGA that is exactly the same model. As was in White House Farm back then.”

“Based on what I’ve actually done today using pig skin and effectively burning pig skin against the front of the AGA there is the definite possibility that the burn marks on Nevill’s back could have been made with the AGA.”

“… It’s very important in that it actually shows that there’s a possibility that Nevill Bamber’s body was actually physically moved after the police actually arrived at the scene and effectively the evidence was changed for want of a better word.”

Going further, in comments to The Mail on Sunday yesterday, Philip Boyce confirmed his report has been submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and added:

“This could indicate that Nevill Bamber’s body had been moved somehow to the position he was photographed in after he was burned by the Aga. The photographs of his body shown to the jury… may have been misleading.”

The paper’s Scott Jones and Glen Owens then concluded:

“The tests were filmed by documentary-maker Matt Harris, who said one photo also reveals another key detail. ‘The kitchen door is closed, with two chairs placed in front of it, he said. ‘This is the only door leading into the kitchen from outside, and this is where Essex Police entered… [they] were the only people who went into White House Farm that day and could have closed that door and placed those chairs in that way.’”

“Speaking last night from HMP Wakefield, Bamber said: ‘To restage the crime scene is a moral sin. These things should have been explored 37 years ago. It’s not a case of me proving or getting out on a technicality. I would like to prove my innocence through facts.’”

To learn more about the Jeremy Bamber Innocence Campaign – whose supporters number former MP Andrew Hunter, barrister Flo Krause, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and magistrate Lady Waterlow – and to join those supporting demands for a reinvestigation of this case, click here.

Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

Interview with Philip Boyce, first aired on YouTube by the ‘Officialbambervideo’ account, November 2022:

Aired first yesterday, Sunday 27^th November 2022, on YouTube, a short 1:58-minute interview with Philip Boyce, a forensic scientist specialising in firearms who has also recently featured in the BBC’s Expert Witness series, was filmed in West Sussex in July 2022.

‘White House Farm murders – Is Jeremy Bamber Innocent? (Episode 1)’ by ‘True Crime Newsquest,’ first aired on YouTube, November 2022:

The first part of a new three-part mini-series available on YouTube aired on the 22^nd November and has been watched 2,200 times to date.  It lasts 13:25-minutes, is presented by Mark Williams-Thomas and features interviews with Newsquest reporter Tom Dalby and polygrapher Terry Mullins. The next eposide airs tomorrow, Tuesday 29^th November 2022.

Interview by Shaun Attwood and Matthew Steeples with Yvonne Hartley and Philip Walker, first aired on YouTube, September 2021:

Watched over 44,000 times to date, this podcast has attracted over 950 comments also. It lasts 1:45-minutes and features two of the leading supporters of Jeremy Bamber casting “considerable doubt” on how his conviction came about.

Some questions Essex Police plainly need to answer regarding this case… Including some new ones that could lead to to the exoneration of jailed for 36 years and still protesting his innocence Jeremy Bamber

• What happened to a suicide note allegedly left by Sheila Caffell that was initially referenced by police and then disappeared?

• Why did Sheila Caffell not have rigor mortis when officers discovered her body?

• Why was blood still gaping from Miss Caffell’s body when it was found?
• Why was the bible found by the body of Miss Caffell not used in evidence and why was that bible destroyed by police also?

• Why are there different accounts about how many bodies were discovered on the ground floor of the farmhouse?

• How could Jeremy Bamber be the killer if police officers repeatedly detected movement inside White House Farmhouse whilst he was stood with them outside?

• Why was the silencer supposedly used in the shootings not discovered immediately when police entered the residence?

• Why did scratch marks supposedly made in the kitchen of the house by that silencer not appear in the first photographs taken at the crime scene? How were they actually made in order that they appeared in later imagery?

• How could Jeremy Bamber be the killer if he made a phone call from his Goldhanger home 3.5 miles away moments after his father had called police from White House Farmhouse to say that his daughter had “gone berserk” with a gun?
• Why did Essex Police hide hundreds of thousands of pages of key documentation including police logs and crime scene photographs from being shared during both the 1986 trial and the 2002 appeal?
• Could the AGA be responsible for the burn marks on Nevill Bamber and if so, why did Essex Police move bodies at the crime scene?
• Why did Essex Police so push the narrative of Jeremy Bamber’s former lover and known thief Julie Mugford given they knew shew had been sold her story for £25,000 to the now defunct News of the World with the payment to be received only if he was convicted?
• Why did Essex Police not investigate why other relatives supported the narrative of Jeremy Bamber as killer given those very relatives only benefitted financially based on Jeremy Bamber’s ultimate conviction?