Disputed Digit Could Free Bamber

On 7 August 1985, five members of the Bamber family were found dead at their Essex farmhouse. The victims were 61-year-old Nevill, his 61-year-old wife June, their 28-year-old adopted daughter Sheila, and her six-year-old twin sons. All had been shot. Sheila, who had a history of mental illness, was found with a rifle by her side, leading police to initially conclude she had murdered her family before taking her own life.

Jeremy Bamber, the Bamber couple’s 24-year-old adopted son, was the first to alert police. He called from his nearby cottage to report a disturbance, claiming his father had phoned to say Sheila had “gone crazy” with a gun. His call to police was not disputed. What has been disputed for 41 years is his claim that his father, Nevill, ever called him in the first place.

The case against Bamber hinged on this single disputed phone call. Prosecutors argued he invented the call from his father to create a false alibi, claiming he killed his family between midnight and 3 a.m., cycled home, and then phoned police himself. At his trial in 1986, the jury was told to accept the time of Bamber’s call to police as 3.26 a.m. This timeline was important, as it placed him at home after the murders, supporting his claim he was not at the scene.

A Disputed Digit and Two Versions of Events

The accuracy of that 3.26 a.m. time has become the central point of contention. The officer who took the call, PC Michael West, logged it as 3.36 a.m. on a police form known as a C1. However, a civilian operator, Malcolm Bonnett, logged a related call at 3.26 a.m., referring to an incident at “White House Farm” with the subject “Daughter gone berserk.” The jury was shown Bonnett’s log but not West’s C1 form.

The contents of the two logs differ significantly. West’s C1 log, from 3.36 a.m., describes the call as coming from “Mr Bamber, 9 Head Street, Goldhanger.” It states that Bamber reported his father had phoned to say, “Your sister has gone crazy and has the gun. Phone went dead.” Bonnett’s log, from 3.26 a.m., refers to the caller as “Mr Bamber, White House Farm” and describes the incident as “Daughter gone berserk,” with the daughter having “got hold of one of my guns.”

These differences led Bamber’s legal team to a startling conclusion: there were two separate calls. They believe the 3.26 a.m. log, using “daughter” and “White House Farm,” represents an earlier call from Nevill Bamber himself. The 3.36 a.m. log, from Bamber’s own address and using “sister,” represents the call he made to police after being cut off. If Nevill made a call, it would support Bamber’s entire defence and cast doubt on his conviction.

This theory is supported by other evidence. An officer’s pocket book shows police were dispatched to the scene at 3.35 a.m., six minutes before West claimed to have taken Bamber’s call. This only makes sense if an earlier call had prompted the dispatch. During the trial, West himself stated that police officers had already been sent to the house when he was speaking to Bamber, a fact the jury did not fully appreciate at the time.

The official narrative of a single, fabricated call has been challenged by the discovery of these conflicting logs and witness statements. The discrepancy of a single digit—3.26 a.m. versus 3.36 a.m.—has become the focus of a decades-long fight to overturn a conviction that has divided public opinion for years.

The Fate of the Evidence

The handling of evidence in the Bamber case has been a source of controversy. On the day of the murders, police destroyed bloodied mattresses and bed linen, believing it to be an open-and-shut murder-suicide. This action was later criticised as unacceptable. In 1996, 11 years after the murders, Essex police unilaterally destroyed even more vital evidence, including bullets, blood samples, swabs, and Sheila Caffell’s heavily bloodstained night dress. This destruction was particularly alarming as it occurred while Bamber was preparing an appeal.

The destruction of evidence raises serious questions. The bloodstained night dress may have shown Sheila Caffell was in contact with other victims, potentially altering the understanding of the crime scene. A document listing exhibits to be destroyed is incomplete, but it notes that “British Telecom extract of calls” for both Bamber’s home and White House Farm were slated for destruction. This has led to speculation about what other evidence may have been lost, leaving a cloud of doubt over the conviction.

Prosecution and Conviction

Caffell had been hospitalized with schizoaffective disorder and feared her children would be taken into support care. She was found with a rifle on her chest, pointing at her neck, and had two gunshot wounds. A bloodied Bible was by her side. The case was initially believed to be a tragic murder-suicide committed by Caffell.

A month later, Bamber was arrested after relatives voiced suspicions. His former girlfriend Julie Mugford told police he had confessed to her. The relatives later inherited the Bamber estate after Bamber’s convictions. It was later discovered Mugford had agreed to sell her story to the News of the World for £25,000 if he was convicted.

Essex police and crown prosecutors dropped charges against Mugford for burglary, chequebook fraud and selling cannabis. They stated prosecuting her could jeopardize her availability or credibility as a key witness against Bamber. Bamber has been in prison for 41 years but questions about his conviction have grown. The Criminal Cases Review Commission has taken four years to consider less than half the evidence he submitted.