Catch Hold Of The Murders At White House Farm: Jeremy Bamber And The Killing Of His Family. The Definitive Investigation. Formulated By Carol Ann Lee Readily Available As Leaflet
who have read this author's previous books about the Moors Murders and about Ruth Ellis will know what to expect from this one and they will not be disappointed.
The Bambers Nevill, June, daughter Sheila and her twin sons, Nicholas and Daniel were murdered at White House Farm in Essex in August, Jeremy Bamber son of Nevill and June is in prison for their murders though he has always maintained his innocence,
The author unravels the family history in a low key unemotional way and explains how Sheila and Jeremy were both much loved and wanted adopted children.
Sheila in her late teens started to show signs of mental illness and she did not always get on with June, reacting against June's steadfast Christian faith.
She got on better with Nevill, Jeremy seems to have had a reasonably happy childhood though he did not always get on well at school as his peers found him boastful and arrogant at times.
Both children went to boarding schools in Norfolk,
Jeremy worked on the farm but didn't always seem too keen on the work and he didn't seem to have a sense of responsibility which his father expected from him if he was to inherit the tenancy of the farm and other business interests.
The family were not short of money but Jeremy seems to have had expensive tastes and he wasn't too particular about where he got his money from, growing and selling cannabis at one time.
He also spent some time in Australia and New Zealand and one of the friends he made there, Brett Collins came to the UK when Jeremy returned.
The author shows that there were disagreements within the family and Jeremy felt he lost out to his sister even though both were provided with property to live in by their parents.
Sheila's mental problems worsened and she spent time in a mental hospital though she was never considered a danger to other people, She had help from family and Social Services to look after the twins though just before the killings they had been living with their father Colin Caffell who was by that time divorced from Sheila.
The author reconstructs from the police logs of the incident, the sequence of events on the fateful night and shows how the police at first considered it an open and shut case Sheila had gone mad with a gun and shot her family and then herself.
Jeremy was the sole survivor and he was the one who called the police after a frantic phone call from his father in the middle of the night.
Unfortunately the police decided very early on that this is what had happened and therefore forensic evidence was contaminated by people walking in and out of the house whereas it should have been preserved as a crime scene.
Some police officers at the time were suspicious of Jeremy but their suspicions were ignored because the Senior Investigating Officer had made up his mind.
It was months later, after complaints had been made by Jeremy's extended family to the police that the case was looked at again and Jeremy was arrested.
His girl friend also came forward with fresh evidence about how he had talked for months about getting rid of his family so that he could inherit and be able to do what he wanted with his life.
Did Jeremy's family concoct an elaborate conspiracy to frame him for the killings Or did he do it He certainly had the motive for doing so and no alibi for the time of the shootings as well as knowing how to get into and out of the farm house when the doors were locked and bolted.
There were no fingerprints on the gun even though he had handled it perfectly legitimately the previous night when going out to shoot rabbits, Was the phone call he said he received from his father genuine If his father hadn't ended the call then Jeremy wouldn't have been able to make his subsequent calls to his girlfriend and the police when he actually did make them.
How could Sheila have shot herself twice with a rifle How could she have loaded and reloaded the gun without damaging any of her very long nails and how did she manage to get only her own blood on her nightdress when she had shot four other people at very close range
Whether or not you believe Jeremy to be guilty as the judge and jury did and his family and some of his friends and acquaintances do this is still a fascinating book.
It is well written in a low key and unsensational style and clearly meticulously researched, There are notes on the chapters, a bibliography and an index and a useful appendix reconstructing the crime, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about this case and to anyone who likes reading true crime books, I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review, Im
not qualified to pronounce on the rights and wrongs of this case, but I can pronounce on the literary qualities of the book and for me it failed on many aspects.
For a start its just too detailed, A case can be made for going into detail about the main protagonists but we dont need to know all about their friends, acquaintances and colleagues.
It all gets far too bogged down in the minutiae which slows the narrative, Then theres far too much reconstructed dialogue, making it all feel like a bad novel, In the end I just found the book too tedious and simply turned to the Wikipedia page to get the facts and left it at that.
Tabloid journalism at its worst turned into a longwinded book, Not for me, this one, especially as there seems to be a lot of doubt about the books accuracy as well, Fascinating and balanced insight into the murders at White House Farm, which is meticulously researched and detailed, Some of the early details are a little dry to read at times, particularly in discussing the relationships between the family members and early life of the Bambers, but it all adds to the rich tapestry of the case and the brick by brick picture Carol Ann Lee builds throughout.
By the time you get to the murders and the court case you're compelled to read more and more about it, and the book is likely to leave you questioning the verdict whichever one it may be you initially held.
A full, thorough and very wellbalanced account of a horrific crime, I found this book to be a real pageturner, Im Canadian and hadnt heard about this case, although I gather its notorious in the UK, Jeremy Bamber murdered his parents, his sister, and his two little nephews in order to be the sole heir of his parents welltodo estate, The Bambers were far from perfect but the author describes them as reallife flawed people, There are apparently some in Britain who still insist Jeremy is innocent but the in my opinion the book presents a very convincing case that he is a heartless murderer.
This book reminded me very much of Fatal Vision, another true case where a father murders his wife and two little girls, A lot of people still think hes innocent, too, It seems as if the more brutal the crime, the less willing decent people are to be believe someone could actually do it, 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚊 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚝. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚘 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚟 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎.
𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙵𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚘𝚗 𝙸𝚃𝚅, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚍. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛. 𝚆𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝙸 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜. 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚞𝚙 𝚊 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚜𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛.
𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚑 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝.
𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚅 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠, 𝚘𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗'𝚝, 𝙸 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜. 𝙴𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚏 𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎. .