White House Farm

I know the evidence all points to JB's guilt but somehow I can't believe it and I never did.
I don't know why.

He looks very different now.

It’s also the style of his (JB’s) hair though, not just the dye. I have looked at pictures of JB and he had a floppy look to his hair, but to me FF’s style just looks peculiar.
I realise a minor point in relation to the main story, but my eyes are drawn to the hair!

I knew nothing about the case and was following it as a piece of drama. I assumed that the mess the police made in dealing with the case was one of the main themes. I thought Stephen Graham came across well as an opinionated bully though I agree the accent was a bit dodgy!! I am interested to read the comments from 'people in the know'.

It's unfair to think you can judge JB's guilt or innocence from this drama series. They are portraying him as guilty to fit with the jury's verdict. The scenes and conversations are sometimes made up. It's an interesting piece of drama but it's not reality and we shouldn't forget that.

His real life brother-in-law thought the resemblance was uncanny when he met Freddie Fox as Jeremy, according to news reports.

Calendargirl Jeremy Bamber dyed his hair black (from the book I've just read) either just before or just after the murders.

Don't forget, although this is based on a true story and the facts as reported seem to be being followed faithfully, it is also a drama based on real events.

I agree that Freddie Fox not cast well as JB. Not good looking enough, hair looks very dyed.

Nannylovesshopping I agree. That last scene said it all for me (not wishing to spoil it for anyone)

Ignore previous mistake!

Aa

EileenVannin but how is it possible that a slightly built woman (nicknamed Bambi for this reason - plus a play on her surname) could physically lay into a strong 6'4" farmer? Chase him down the stairs and into the kitchen where an almighty struggle took place and he received multiple injuries and was slammed into a mantelpiece? If anything her medication would have made her dopey.

I didn't know anything about this case (I wasn't in the UK in 1985) but I have this week read Colin Caffell's book, recently updated.

The travesty in this case is that it was a botched police investigation and vital evidence was destroyed, the adults who were murdered were cremated within a week. People were traipsing all over the house and the original IO made an error of judgment deciding that it was an open and shut murder-suicide. Gagagran is correct, a silence with blood smears on it was found in the back of a cupboard (by the cousins who were suspicious about Jeremy from the outset). The police messed that up too - didn't tell the lab that it was for a murder investigation so it wasn't given priority. Shoddy handling of evidence.

I think the right person is in jail. The fact that he continually protests his innocence is neither here nor there...

NotTooOld
I thought the likeness was pretty good. Jeramy had 'a look' that wouldn't be easy to copy.

Callistamon
Absolutely!! The police were completely out of their depth.
It seemed as if it was just so horrible they had get the killer.
It didn't help Jeramy that he was what you would call 'different'

I am just shocked after watching last night's episode.
The burning of evidence the haphazard police investigation and the refusal to look at any evidence which did not fit the murders/suicide scenario established in the mind of the DCI.

Although I remember the case, I had either forgotten some of the details or never knew them.

The cousin actually said last night that Sheila knew nothing about guns.
The actor playing Jeremy Bamber is not right. JB himself is taller and better looking. The actor's face doesn't go with his dyed black hair either. Poor casting there, I think.

Well, after last nights episode, last scenes, a man who can do that is guilty of just about anything ?

Chestnut he removed the silencer because it made the gun too long for her to reach the trigger if she was shooing herself in the neck. When they examined the silencer there was blood inside it, but there was no blood in the rifle barrel. As the barrel would have been in contact with her skin there should have been. Unfortunately the police treated it as an open and shut murder/suicide and it didn't have the sort of investigation it would have today.

Blood spatter patterns would have been used then, as would gun residues etc.
Forensic science was good back then but obviously DNA techniques have advanced investigations exponentially.

I have recorded this but I did wonder if it was bad timing because of the fresh appeal.

Forensic science was not perhaps as advanced because DNA techniques were not being used then, in fact not until several years later.

However, if properly stored, evidence can be subjected to DNA testing and results have been obtained in many cases. Having secured a conviction presumably that would not have been revisited in the Bamber case.

Stephen Graham is normally a great actor, I hope his Welsh accent doesn't put me off watching.

But why would the killer remove the silencer and put it in a cupboard anyway?

I read that a silencer had been used in the killings but it was found in a cupboard. No way could Sheila have placed it there after shooting herself - or shooting herself twice.

Riverwalk, naturally Jeremy would know how to use a gun, he worked the farm with his father and used the .22 rifles for shooting the vermin that ate the crops.

The actual shooting inside the farmhouse was frenzied and not the " marksman " shots which were mentioned. A child could handle the rifle which had been used.

Now they go into every detail around blood splatters to establish exactly how the gun was fired, and what angle, but I suppose forensics were not so good back then, and DNA wasn't in use. DNA evidence not much help even now as JB would have touched things in the house including the gun. Because of the doubt about whether the killer was him or his sister these things would be crucial evidence.

Interesting reading .....I have not watched all the documentaries on the murders, which was so horrific. I look forward to the rest of the episodes and the knowledgable comments .

Riverwalk It goes without saying that JB could use a gun, but I think it was said that Sheila had no idea how to use one. JB said they used to go shooting, so her ability to use a gun is very significant.