Lawyers representing convicted killer Jeremy Bamber, say they will seek a judicial review of the decision by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) not to refer his case back to the court of appeal. They say the commission have not applied the proper test for determining whether a case should be referred to the appeal court.
Bamber was convicted in October 1986 of shooting dead his adoptive parents, Neville and June Bamber, his sister, Sheila Caffell, and her two six-year-old twins, Daniel and Nicholas, at White House Farm in rural Essex. The prosecution claimed Bamber had killed his family in order to obtain his inheritance. The trial judge described him as "wicked beyond belief" and jailed him for a minimum of 25 years. That sentence was increased to whole life in 1994 by the home secretary, Michael Howard. He has always maintained his innocence.
When police entered the farmhouse on 7 August 1985 and found the five bodies, they believed Caffell, who had a history of psychiatric problems, had killed her family before turning the rifle, an Anschutz 525, on herself. That theory was altered when relatives of Bamber found a silencer in a gun cupboard that apparently contained traces of Caffell's blood. The prosecution argued at Chelmsford crown court that Caffell could not have shot herself and removed the silencer and that her reach would not have been long enough to shoot herself in the throat with the silencer attached. Red paint marks, also found on the silencer, were said to have come from the farmhouse kitchen, where Neville Bamber's body was found: evidence, the prosection said, of a struggle with Bamber and his adoptive father.
The silencer was pivotal in convicting Bamber, with the judge telling the jury they could convict him "on the evidence of the silencer alone".
New evidence obtained by Bamber's lawyers seem to rule out the possibility of the silencer being attached to the rifle during the killings. Three reports, by eminent experts, suggest the shots were fired without the silencer attached. One, compiled by David Fowler, the chief medical examiner of the US state of Maryland, has examined photographs of the victim's wounds and concluded they were caused by the rifle without the silencer attached.
Simon McKay, Bamber's lawyer, said his client was very disappointed but remained determined to carry on the fight to clear his name. McKay believes the commission "have not applied the proper test for determining whether a case should be referred back to the court of appeal".
"Four independent and supremely qualified experts provided opinions that fundamentally undermined the crown case against Mr Bamber and the safety of the convictions. The evidence was credible, inherently believable and gave rise to cogent admissible grounds of appeal that may have affected the jury's verdict. This is sufficient for the case to be referred back: whether the conviction is in fact subsequently quashed is a matter for the court of appeal. The commission has usurped the court's function."
A spokesman for the CCRC said the commission had not identified any new evidence or legal argument capable of raising a real possibility that the court of appeal would quash the conviction.
"The commission's reasons for the decision are set out in detail in a 109-page statement of reasons. That document has was provided to Mr Bamber in prison today and a copy has been sent to his legal representative," he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/26/jeremy-bamber-murder-appeal-thrown-out
