New test could show 'Jeremy Bamber was wrongfully convicted' of White House Farm murders

New test could show 'Jeremy Bamber was wrongfully convicted' of White House Farm murders A new Channel 5 documentary has presented compelling ballistic evidence suggesting Jeremy Bamber may have been wrongfully convicted of the 1985 White House Farm massacre. For more than four decades, Jeremy Bamber has been locked up in HM Prison Wakefield — the notorious "Monster Mansion" that holds some of Britain's most dangerous offenders. He was sentenced in October 1986 following his conviction for a horrific family massacre, in which his adoptive parents, his sister and her two young sons were gunned down at an Essex farmhouse. Yet fresh evidence now points to the real perpetrator having perished on that fateful night in August 1985, raising the possibility that Bamber may be innocent. A new documentary, Jeremy Bamber: Proof of Innocence - The Missing Phone Call, airing tonight at 9pm on Channel 5, takes a fresh look at evidence that has convinced campaigners Bamber did not commit the crimes for which he was found guilty. The programme centres largely on new ballistic tests that directly contradict the conclusions of the original police investigation. Three days after Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila Caffell, and Sheila's six-year-old twin boys, Daniel and Nicholas, were discovered dead at White House Farm, a crucial piece of evidence was unearthed at the scene. A silencer recovered from the property's gun cupboard was found to be contaminated with blood that may have originated from Sheila. Firearms expert Malcolm Fletcher concluded that the blood was back-spatter from a close-range shooting. This finding flew in the face of Bamber's claim that Sheila had "gone berserk" with a rifle on the night of the killings, before turning the gun on herself. It would have been physically impossible for Sheila to have reached the trigger while the silencer was attached, given the extra length it added to the weapon. It also seems highly unlikely that she could have carried out the murders, replaced the silencer, and then turned the rifle on herself. Yet a chilling new experiment featured in the documentary throws the prosecution's conclusions into serious doubt. Every victim in the White House Farm massacre was shot multiple times. Even Sheila, who, according to Bamber's account, had taken her own life after slaying her parents and children, had been shot twice. Crucially, all of the bullet wounds were clean, round holes. Using a piece of pig skin — the closest animal equivalent to human skin — a ballistics expert carried out a test examining the wound profile produced both with and without the silencer. Using an identical make and model to the murder weapon, the expert discharged the same type of ammunition at close range into the test material. Rounds fired with the silencer attached left a distinctly ragged entry wound. In stark contrast, rounds fired without it produced precisely the same neat, circular wounds found on every one of the victims. Given that the silencer represents the single most critical piece of evidence contradicting Bamber's version of events, the ballistics test alone makes a compelling case for the matter to be re-examined. Questions have also been raised over how the silencer came to be discovered. It was found in the house by one of Bamber's relatives, David Boutflour. Curiously, another family member had written notes about a silencer being found prior to Boutflour's discovery. Serious concerns have been raised regarding the chain of evidence, with allegations that Essex Police mishandled the crime scene. Campaigners have suggested that more than one silencer may have been retrieved from the scene, with forensic experts' descriptions of the item they examined differing on one or two key details. So many decades on, establishing precisely what occurred on that August night may no longer be feasible. Yet Jeremy Bamber remains locked up in Monster Mansion, having survived more than one potentially life-threatening attack from fellow inmates, all while steadfastly protesting his innocence and fighting for the right to appeal his whole-life tariff. Bamber's legal team intends to submit a report demanding that the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) reconsider their original objection and refer the case. In response to the allegations, Essex Police maintain that numerous appeals and reviews have concluded Bamber is guilty, while the CCRC says they are working to consider additional matters raised in his application. Jeremy Bamber: Proof of Innocence - The Missing Phone Call airs tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm