I’m sorry I’ve not caught up with my Christmas and birthday mail. It’s so kind of everyone to think of me and send cards, letters, and stamps. So, thanks.
I’m feeling upbeat and positive. We had some great media at the end of last year, to let everyone know what was going on. I know that the Criminal Cases Review Commission gets some terrible press coverage. The system is slow, but I have a very good case manager, who I believe is trying to investigate my grounds of appeal. Maybe there’ll be news very soon. But everyone on the team, and all of my friends and supporters, are desperate for justice too. I am as well, of course; almost 38 years now, which is just such a long time.
However, there comes a time when we need to try something else. So, that is exactly what we are doing. I have to say at long last, I’m feeling really positive about life. We are just exploring some interesting new legal angles. I’ve spoken to my lawyers, and my team, and everyone says it’s a good idea.
I can’t share the details at the moment though. Although, no one has to wait a long time, as it will be in the public arena in a few weeks. I think just after the coronation. It’s exciting and, best of all, a great Easter present.
Thank you all for the continuing love and support.
We are almost there! What a journey we’ve been on.
It’s on the 7th of August that we remember Jeremy’s family. This year we hear from people who knew the Bamber’s, Barbara D’Ath and Sheila’s friend B.
“Me and my husband Brian knew Nevill and June through Osea where we had a caravan for several years from 1982. Our family has fond memories of our time there and particularly of the Bamber family. Nevill Bamber was a sort of man who you immediately liked and trusted. Always smiling and approachable you could tell him if you had a problem, and he would deal with it. You could be confident it would be resolved promptly and to your satisfaction. June Bamber was a warm and kind lady who went out of the way to ensure that anything you needed you got. You felt instinctively you could trust her implicitly. It was evident they were wonderful parents and grandparents to Nicholas and Daniel too. I’m not surprised that others who knew the family, like the lady who writes about her friendship with Sheila, have such fond memories.
It was an honour to have known them both - Barbara”.
“I first met Sheila when we were going to modelling interviews together. I remember her as tall, and naturally beautiful. She was always so friendly and chatty to everyone, we all liked her which in the modelling world was unusual, ‘coz it was very competitive. Sheila, or Bambs as we all knew her, would help people do their hair or make up and lend her stuff to us as if these jobs didn’t really matter. I knew she had her own flat and that her mum helped the with the bills, Bambs wouldn’t have thought about all that stuff anyway as that was how she was.
We all smoked, Bambs liked a trooper, either roll ups or slim cigars – dragging on them as if it was her last breath. We became mates – we were never up for the same work much, I was small and only did face and hands work, Bambs in heels was like a string bean and photographed so well. Us girls were jealous of how tall and naturally beautiful Bambs was. Always late, scatty and carefree about life, but so kind and a great mate. Then me and Bambs lost touch, she never came to auditions, and I never saw her out. None of us knew she had to go into hospital to have children for some months.
The next time I saw her was going down a side street in Hampstead with her two boys, they were running around her, she had her head in her hands, confused, and she looked so, so different. The tall elegant Bambs had gone, Bambs looked ill, and I felt so sad. I wanted to go up and say hi to my old friend, but felt I couldn’t, there was a barrier. I never saw Bambs again, and a few years later I heard what had happened at White House Farm. My teenage friend was a joy to be with and I still miss her, quirky, scatty, friendly, and caring ways – B.”
As the 36th anniversary approaches of the tragic night in August 1985, where five people lost their lives, let us take a little time to remember, Nevill and June Bamber, Sheila Caffell, her twin sons Nicholas and Daniel, but also Jeremy, son, brother and uncle, who not only lost his family but also his liberty, due to lies, deceit and corruption in this tragic miscarriage of justice.
Despite the huge catalogue of evidence, now proving Jeremy’s innocence beyond any doubt, he remains behind bars. Let us wish him continued strength and hope, but most of all love, as we his friends, supporters and campaigners, continue to work tirelessly on his behalf.
Hal Borland (1900-1978), naturalist, writer and journalist.
I wanted to write a little about the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) application, but the difficulty I have is that to do it justice I would need to write twenty pages, but I won't. Easter time is all about hope, and I want to tell you that I feel hope very strongly and also thank the people who have been working so hard to help me, especially as we all move from a long winter of covid restrictions into hope this spring.
Firstly, it’s been a team effort. Of course, I’ve been doing the jail time, but it would be impossible to fight a miscarriage of justice on your own. There has also been a huge amount of pressure on me to submit a new application to the CCRC since 2012 when they rejected my last application.
Luckily, those closest to me have trusted me, when I’ve said, there is more evidence for us to find, so we’ll wait a bit longer and do some more research before we make the decision to submit an application to the Commission.
I’m very grateful to my Campaign Team for trusting me – even though I know at times they have felt frustrated, because we’ve not had an application currently under investigation. Rallying support during the past ten years has been quite hard work without a CCRC application under way. The media have taken less notice of our campaign and gaining supporters has been quite hard work.
Now is the right time for us to submit an application to the Commission. We have identified eight issues, each of which contain multiple grounds of appeal that we all believe are totally unanswerable by Essex Police or the CPS. These new grounds are true, utterly compelling, backed up by evidence and they are also simple to understand.
I have complete confidence in the Commission to investigate our eight grounds of appeal in a timely manner. I don’t doubt that our submissions have already been read by the commissioners and that matters will move along quickly.
I am very excited by all of the evidence that has been uncovered. I wish that it hadn’t taken 19 years since my last appeal to apply for another one, but it is what it is, and now we are ready to ask for another appeal.
I know that as many of you celebrate Easter over the next few days, that we can be optimistic and filled with hope, that over the coming weeks we can finally look forward to receiving justice for both me and for my mum and dad. I have dreamt of my freedom every day since 29 September 1985, perhaps my freedom is just around the next corner – I hope so.
"I am filled with hope and anticipation that the new submissions to the Criminal Cases Review Commission will achieve a speedy referral to the Court of Appeal.
My legal team have worked tirelessly on the new application which contains multiple new grounds never previously put forward for consideration. All of the grounds, are supported by fresh evidence, including forensic reports and address every aspect of the prosecution case made against me and now conclusively prove my innocence.
In addition, our comprehensive submissions contain the evidence to prove that the jury at my trial were not provided with the full facts, and that they were misled repeatedly on the key elements of the case. We also set out the now provable mistakes and corrupt actions of Essex Police officers which impacted on the original investigation against me, and continue to do so to this day.
The lack of disclosure by Essex Police has been at the heart of my case from the outset, and is still a feature today in an attempt by the Essex Police to maintain my wrongful conviction. I feel confident however that the CCRC will do their utmost to achieve disclosure of vital material in order to obtain my justice."
I am wishing everyone a happy Christmas of course, though it seems such a difficult festive season this year due to Covid 19 restrictions.
This has been such an awful year for everyone, and my heart goes out to all of my friends who have lost loved ones because of this dreadful virus. It is just so sad. Finding words of comfort at times like these is impossible, because the pain of loss is so acute, but I want my friends to know that I am always here to listen and talk through the pain that losing loved ones brings.
It does seem that hope may be on the way with a vaccine, and it appears that this has been developed really quickly, but actually, the science of how to make the right vaccine for any given virus, is very well developed. Plus, there was no red tape or funding issues to worry about. With luck, by this time next year the Covid 19 virus will be considered history. Which brings me to my news.
I had hoped to say that I have news that I can share with you all, that is sadly not the case. I am disappointed, but it is hoped that by the end of January 2021, that we will have uplifting news to share. By then I will have spent my thirtieth, fortieth, fiftieth and my sixtieth birthdays in prison, in total, over one point one billion seconds of innocent imprisonment.
However, I am not saying this to make anyone feel sad, because I have hope, and hope is what keeps the human spirit alive, without hope there is nothing. So, we must all have hope that 2021 is going to be better than 2020. This is something worth holding on to, because hope is the fuel of endeavour to achieve, both justice for me, and days of happiness for us all, in the coming New Year.
I want to thank everyone for their kind support these past 12 months. Especially great have been Yvonne’s and Philip’s zoom meetings. These seem to have been a triumph, and we have some great topics lined up for the year to come.
Happy Christmas, and I will see you all in the New Year, as justice may well prevail.
As another anniversary of my conviction comes around, on the 28thOctober, I am pleased to say that the case has moved forward considerably over the last couple of years.
Up until then, knowing my innocence, I always had great hope that the judicial system would eventually have to accept that the case against me was just plain wrong.
Now, because of the huge strides that we have made in disproving every facet of the prosecution’s case, I now have, not hope, but a real expectation that we will shortly achieve a favourable resolution of my case, my innocence proven, and that I will finally be released.
We now have an overwhelming amount of evidence that not only undermines every single aspect of the prosecution case but proves that all of the major elements of that case were either deceptions or fabrications.
All of this exculpatory evidence will shortly be presented to the CCRC. We believe that within the corpus of submissions there are at least ten separate issues, each of which, on their own merit, should overturn my conviction.
Taken together, they make the case for my innocence utterly irrefutable.
In addition, the recent Channel 5 documentary, “White House Farm Murders: the New Evidence”, which featured some of the issues we have already released, showed that once the proper evidence is put before the public, they realise very quickly that a serious miscarriage of justice has taken place.
With all of these different threads coming together, I firmly expect that the freedom that was so unjustly taken from me will soon be restored.
In the meantime, thank you, as always, for your many letters and emails of support which have been so heart-warming to read during these uncertain times for everyone.
I am confident that I will be able to thank you all in person soon, and I am greatly looking forward to being able to do that.
Today, with Jeremy, we remember his family. Many of us didn’t know Nevill, June, Sheila, Nicholas and Daniel, but we see photographs of their days with Jeremy. It’s through Jeremy that the faces on the pages are brought to life. He has shared his loving memories with many of us, and all those he lost have become three dimensional individuals who we remember today as if we knew them too.
Let us take time to share with Jeremy his love and his remembrance of those who were dearest to him.
To Nevill, June, Sheila, Nicholas and Daniel, may you be always in our thoughts.
Thanks for all of your kind emails and letters of support since the outbreak of COVID-19.
We are, like all of you, following strict social distancing measures in the prison. Thanks to all of our key workers at the NHS and emergency services, especially prison officers who show compassion and professionalism at a time that is difficult for all of us.
Fortunately, my campaign team all work remotely and meet via Skype most of the time, so the campaign can continue pretty much as it was. It’s a stark warning to us how many people have already died including those of my generation. An anthem of my youth was ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’ by Alan Merrill who sadly just lost his life to the virus.
So, with the extra time for work in my cell, I’m preparing an additional project with the campaign admin Yvonne Hartley. We work really well on the case material together and there is a lot more coming to light.
The team are continuing to work with documentary makers with a view to making a series of programmes on my case.
We are currently in the legal system waiting for a Judicial Review of the C.P.S. but this might be carried out by video link with the court or possibly suspended, who knows at this time of unprecedented events in our world.
I just wanted to give a quick update on everything that has happened so far this year. I was going to write this on a timeline, however it’s probably better to write this in order of importance.
For me, the article dated 12 February 2020 that was published in the Daily Star online, has to be one of the most important things that has come to light so far in 2020. It’s not the fact that the article alone has been so significant, or the evidence it contained which was uncovered about a year ago, but it is the fact that both Essex Police and the Metropolitan Police have stated that this evidence was not disputed.
DS 21 Jones stated under oath on 6 August 2002, that the scene was treated as four murders and a suicide because the team had “a note saying I’ve killed myself.”
DS Jones stated to the Metropolitan Police:
“You don't go hunting for things if you've got four murders and a suicide if you've got someone saying I've just killed myself, you don't start searching cupboards upstairs, you don't start searching cupboards in the other rooms, because you've got a note saying I've killed myself so it was treated as four murders and a suicide, completely different.”
Essex Police do not dispute this evidence!
This revelation now makes sense of DCI Kenneally’s report dated 6 September 1985 where he stated that:
“The evidence indicated that Sheila was responsible.”
No doubt part of this evidence that DCI Kenneally was referring to in his report was this suicide note.
I am simply shocked that a suicide note had been found at the scene on 7 August 1985, a note that Essex Police now concede did exist, and yet I am still in prison. This suicide note has never been disclosed and remains that way, as do photographs and fingerprint information, which must have been taken in relation to this note. I am really hoping that Essex Police are in contact with the CPS and admit that DS 21 Jones made a statement, under oath, in 2002 about the finding of Sheila’s suicide note at the scene on 7 August 1985.
And now to the ITV Drama. I am so sorry that people had to watch such nonsense, because for some odd reason no one was portrayed in a positive way from what I have been told. I did see the adverts and felt embarrassed by how badly Freddie Fox played me, and that my friends and supporters were put in a position of having to defend me. I am not now or have ever been anything like the drama portrayed me. But, it’s not me that matters, it is the fact that mum and dad were so misrepresented by the way I was portrayed.
ITV and Carol Ann Lee’s book made out that Sheila and I were jealous of each other because mum and dad had brought us up differently and treated us differently. One of the fanciful scenarios they put forward was that I was jealous of Sheila having a lovely flat in Maida Vale. This was not true as mum and dad gave me a house in Goldhanger. More to the point was that Sheila always allowed me to stay at her flat if I wanted to. I know that others looking in on our lives could feel envious, and so assumed that Sheila and I might feel the same. Sheila and I did not, because mum and dad made sure that as we were growing up, that we were grateful for our good fortune, because they knew that no one likes people who are boastful. So, the ITV drama insulted my mum and dad without even thinking about it, simply by portraying me as they did. Shocking, not factual, untruthful misrepresentation.
There are lots of positives, lots of new people have got in touch with me offering their support which is always nice, and many of the National newspapers, including The Daily Star,Daily Mirror, and The Guardian to name just three have featured really positive things about the case and given us a platform to publicly release new evidence.
I cannot thank everyone enough for how much support I have had, and the amazing thing now is that Essex Police do not dispute the fact that a suicide note was recovered from the scene, evidence that should have been disclosed pre-trial but was not!
It is of the upmost importance that the Administrative Court reach a decision in line with the disclosure ordered in 2001/2002 for all of the case documentation to be disclosed to myself and my legal team.
I have made continual attempts for almost 35 years to gain disclosure of this material which includes all of the forensic documents, witness statements and case photographs, especially those of the silencers, and I am still being refused access to it despite the previous orders made by the Court of Appeal.
All involved, including Essex Police, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the Forensic Science Service and the Crown Prosecution Service appear to believe that the partial disclosure they have made is sufficient. However, we are now in a position to show exactly what has been withheld, which amounts to thousands of key files and documents pertaining to not just the forensic examination of two silencers, but also to my innocence. This repeated non–disclosure means that much of the truth remains unknown, as the evidence that gives my case clarity still remains hidden.
Jeremy would like to extend his appreciation to everyone who has contacted him and the campaign with kind messages of support following the front-page news article on Saturday the 19th of October, regarding the call logs evidence.
"It is these many of messages of support and goodwill I have received from you all that keeps me focused and determined to correct my wrongful and unlawful conviction. A big thank you also to Matthew Young and the Daily Mirror for enabling the public at large to read the truth about just one of the ways Essex Police, and the prosecution manipulated the case against me.
The public reaction to this new alibi evidence being released makes me smile knowing how much more evidence of my innocence has been uncovered on every aspect of my case which has yet to be put into the public arena.
I’m currently working hard with my legal and campaign team to achieve a referral to the Court of Appeal as soon as possible. I feel excited at what the future holds, and I will be able to share more news with you in the next few weeks."
Today marks the 34th anniversary of the tragic, seemingly senseless, deaths of five members of a loving, close- knit family: Nevill and June Bamber, their adopted daughter, Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin boys, Nicholas and Daniel.
Although, in keeping with all those who support this campaign, I know the sequence of events which led to this tragedy, I did not know those who lost their lives at White House Farm, but I have complete trust in the picture of them, painted by Jeremy, the sixth victim of what took place that summer night.
Nevill and June were the personification of kindness and decency, who created a warm, caring home for those they loved. Sheila was a devoted mother, daughter and sister, with talent and charm to match her nature, and the personalities of those two, dear, six-year-old boys, reflected the love and care that surrounded their lives.
Knowing this, makes the manner in which they met their deaths all the more unfathomable, from any perspective. They will be remembered today - and every other day that dawns in the lives of those who loved and mourn them.
It is also entirely in keeping with the sentiments of this day that we remember the other victims of the tragedy.
Jeremy, of course, did not perish that awful night; instead, the state has kept him buried alive in a prison cell for over three decades; stealing not only his freedom, but the experience of living and of grieving for his family in decency and peace.
Along with people, concepts - which this state claims to be the foundations of a decent society - joined the list of victims. In the aftermath of the tragedy, truth and justice were kidnapped; a crime made more despicable by the perpetrators dressing their actions in a cloak labelled as the law of the land.
We campaigners have always believed that the walls of this dam of deceit, which has entombed Jeremy these decades, would eventually burst. The tide of truth, the whole truth, is too strong for man-made lies and corruption to withstand in perpetuity.
And I repeat, our continued fight to gain our friend's freedom is entirely in keeping with remembering and mourning Nevill, June, Sheila, Nicholas and Daniel. I believe that nobody would have fought more to set Jeremy free, than those who he loved and who loved him.
Mr Foster opened his speech by highlighting the case of Mahmoud Mattanwho was wrongly hanged on the 8th September 1952 for the murder of Lily Volpert. He stated Mr Mattan’s conviction was amongst one of the very first referrals made by the CCRC and explained the police had not disclosed vital evidence in this case. He then went on to say the Commission should be applauded for referring Mr Mattan’s case to the Court of Appeal as this resulted in the case being quashed in the late 1990’s all thanks to the CCRC’s referral.
Prior to the setting up of the CCRC, cases that might be miscarriages of justice were investigated by the Home Office C3 department. After the Court of Appeal had overturned the convictions of the Birmingham 6 and Guilford 4 it was decided that the Home Office C3 department should no longer be responsible for carrying out investigations into potential miscarriages of justice. My own case was with the Home Office C3 department at the time when the decision was taken to set up the CCRC and as a result the Home Office wrote to me stating my case would be transferred to the newly formed CCRC, and it duly was.
Media articles, news items and comment pieces were given by the CCRC, the Home Office and numerous miscarriages of justice organisations about the scale of work to be carried out by this new Commission. It was estimated that there were between 40 and 60 cases of currently convicted individuals that were possible miscarriage of justice cases that were in need of a review. So, at its founding, it seemed there were going to be plenty of resources available for each case to be properly looked at. From 1998 onwards hope was strongly felt by those individuals who were having their cases investigated by the CCRC, many, including mine, were referred to the Court of Appeal, and some had a successful appeal as a result of the referral. But somehow it all went terribly wrong for the CCRC and for the innocent in jail almost from the start. The CCRC began to promote itself, stating that if you had lost your first appeal and you still believed that your case was a miscarriage of justice, then you should make an application to them because they would look again and thoroughly investigate all that the convicted told them about their case. In over 20 years since the formation of this organisation, 23,000 applications have been investigated by the CCRC, of which 97% have been rejected, as if each has been properly investigated, they cannot possibly have been. In my own case for instance, I have repeatedly stated to the Commission that non-disclosure of evidence proving my innocence was a key feature on my submissions to them. Over a ten-year period, between 2002 and 2012, I submitted clear proof of this, yet the CCRC never investigated a single non-disclosure issue in my case other than on the non-disclosure of case photographs, an issue which was only partly resolved as many photographs are still not available to my legal team. I have written about this issue in detail previously and you can read about it here.
Mr Foster stated in his farewell speech that he has been honoured and privileged to serve as the Chair of the Commission and says that it is wonderful that the CCRC referred Mr Mattan’s case to the Court of Appeal, but that was 36 years too late for Mr Mattan, and it will be too late for other miscarriage of justice cases such as that of my friend the late Susan May,and as I grow older, soon too late for me.
Non-disclosure of evidence by the police and CPS is a highlighted issue as a cause of miscarriages of justice, and this failing was raised by the new DPP, Max Hill, when he took office in October 2018. However, even when the CCRC know that this happened in my particular case, and while Mr Foster was the Chairman of the Commission, he and they were happy to turn a blind eye to my submissions, burying their actions behind the fact that they’ve had to look at 22,999 other cases over the last 20 years, so if they made the odd mistake that would be understandable!
Had the CCRC continued investigating 30-40 cases a year as was expected when it was founded, then the CCRC would have been easily scrutinised over the way they have operated over the last 20 years. Instead, Mr Foster is honoured to have headed up an institution that has failed me, Susan May, and no doubt, hundreds of other miscarriages of justice. An institution that hides behind the numbers and lack of funding to conceal their absolute failure to carry out their remit properly that has been declared as “not fit for purpose” by miscarriage of justice victims, the legal profession and the media alike.
As you are all aware, the non-disclosure by Essex police of my complete case files and forensic material has hampered our ability to prove all of the manipulations and the facts which led to my wrongful imprisonment. However, the diligent analysis of the material I have had disclosed, has brought us to the point where I know that the justice system will have to concede that my conviction cannot be sustained. This will happen within months as we have several legal approaches that are currently active as well as the imminent submissions to the CCRC within the next few weeks. I am extremely confident and excited that the truth will out and I will soon be home.
In the meantime, following disclosure by Chelmsford Crown Court of a crime scene image that I had no idea existed at trial, I decided to re-conduct a full investigation and analysis surrounding the disclosure of the case photographs. I very soon came to realise that there are even more undisclosed case negatives than I first thought there were.
In fact it can now be shown that there are 272 case images that my defence team or I have never been allowed to see. What do these images show? It is probable that they showed all of the guns in the house including those belonging to Anthony Pargeter, the telephone I supposedly hid in magazines actually being on a shelf in the office and they will no doubt reveal further proof that Sheila was moved by the police and that her hands and feet were not spotlessly clean as they informed the jury they were.
I have also discovered that Essex Police not only deceived me and my defence team on this issue but also deceived the CCRC .
On 09.10.2002, Mr John MacLeod examined 58 rolls of photographic film. He viewed 429 negative images and reached the conclusion that a total of 249 frames of film had been cut from the 58 rolls of film disclosed to him.
On 01.10.08, Mr Peter Suthurst examined 58 rolls of photographic film. He viewed 416 negative images and he reached the conclusion that 262 frames had been cut from the 58 rolls of film that had been disclosed to him.
In 2011, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) disclosed photographic negatives to photography experts who examined 58 rolls of photographic film. They viewed 406 negative images and reached the conclusion that 272 frames had been cut from the 58 rolls of film disclosed to them.
If Essex Police had disclosed all of the case negatives in existence, why do the numbers of missing images differ? They should be the same. However the CCRC failed to investigate this issue at the time as they were satisfied with Essex Police explanation in 2011 that: i
“It was practice that this portion of clear un-exposed film which had no evidential value was cut off and disposed of at the time, whilst the remainder was sleeved in clear acetate for protection.”
However, we recently discovered a document produced by the 2001/2002 Stokenchurch investigation which stated that: ii
“From Mr Gross 31.10.2001: All the negatives in the enquiry have been well preserved and are retained in original uncut strip form.”
Mr Gross is specific, and very clear that on 31.10.2001 the case photographic negatives were retained “in original uncut strip form.”
Therefore, who gave permission for these negative strips that were whole and uncut in 2001, to then be cut up and edited before disclosure to the defence in October 2002, October 2008 and 2011? Why would these images have been removed from the strips if Essex Police had nothing to hide?
It seems clear that Essex Police must have copies of the original uncut strips of negative film and must have copied and edited the new versions prior to the three disclosures otherwise the number of disclosed images would have been identical in each instance.
This is just one of the multitudes of issues that will be referred back to the CCRC in the coming weeks.
So to conclude, whilst we are still to this day uncovering even more evidence concerning the corrupt acts of police officers and individuals involved with my case, the facts remain that my case will be referred to the Court of Appeal shortly, of that I have every confidence.
Jeremy
Watch this video by Human Rights Campaigner Peter Tatchell where he talks about the non-disclosure of case photographs of the crime scene atWhite House Farm by Essex police and its continued effect on Jeremy's case:
i CCRC Provisional statement of Reasons 2011. PDF, Para 315 to 318.
ii Stokenchurch Action number 85 dated 06.11.2001 reportedii:
