The White House Farms Murders

WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT…

The cops were shaken when they got a call on August 7, 1985 by JEREMY BAMBER, saying that his sister (Sheila) had gone crazy and was trying to kill his dad. According to him, Jeremy had gotten a panicked call from his dad, where he then  heard a shot on the other end and the call went silent. The police rushed to the house without missing a beat and beat Jeremy upon reaching. The police checked that all the doors and windows were closed but it was dead silent. The police then found not only his dad but the whole family dead in the house. Jeremy’s dad, Nevill Bamber (61 years), was shot 7-8 times and had scratches all over his body; it seemed as though he was fighting the murderer. His body was found on the main floor of the house. But when the police went to the second floor, they found the dead bodies of Daniel Caffell, Nicholas Caffell and June Bamber. Daniel and Nicholas were Jeremy’s nephews. The shocker came when the police found the dead body of SHEILA CAFFELL in the master bedroom, who had been  accused of having gone crazy and killed the family. She was found with a rifle still in her hand and it seemed like she had shot herself in the throat twice, clinging to a bible.

The police soon came to the conclusion that it was a murder suicide case. Jeremy was now the only surviving member of his family. He was in bits. The police did a double check of the house to check for any other evidence but the situation seemed to be clear to the police. The house was soon emptied and the bodies were taken to the morgue. The house was now inherited by Jeremy. The news shook the village as the Bamber family was very well known askind, wealthy, regular church goers. 

According to Jeremy, his sister Sheila had a very tough life. She was mentally ill and had multiple trips to psychiatric hospitals in her teen years. In her teens, she was also addicted to drugs. Later in life, she had several miscarriages and a cheating husband. Additionally, Sheila and June Bamber apparently never got along. This started when Sheila was in her teenage years, and she was caught sun-bathing naked with a boy by her very religious mother. June went off on Sheila, calling her every insult. Jeremy also claimed that Sheila had a couple of manic episodes in the past due to her mental illness.  From this, the police concluded that the case was a result of long held resentment and an episode of schizophrenia.

Jeremy and his extended family held a funeral for all the members of the family in the Bamber house. The house was cleaned and emptied. The case was closed until Jeremy’s cousin DAVID  foundsome boxes in the house with  found a gun silencer in one of the boxes. David saw that there was a  patch of blood on the silencer. He decided to turn the silencer in without anybody knowing about it. The police ran some tests on the blood and found out that it was of a person with blood group A and the only dead body with blood group A was Sheila. This discovery turned the whole situation upside down:Sheila was a very petite woman. It would be nearly impossible for her to press the trigger twice with the silencer on the rifle. Also,  even if somehow she managed to press the trigger, the police were confused about how the silencer could reach the main floor when Sheila was supposedly the last one to die and she was on the second floor. This made the police think about a scenario where Sheila was framed to be the murderer but in reality there was a 6th person in the house that forcefully killed all the other members. Police decide to reopen the case. they did not have enough evidence to prove it was a murder suicide case. 

When they were looking at the photos they had taken of the crime scene, the whole house was covered in blood except for the bottom side of Sheila’s feet, which were clean. This meant that Sheila was not allegedly running madly in the blood killing people. This made the police more sure that Sheila could not be the one to kill all the family. All the arrows now pointed at the only surviving member of the family, Jeremy Bamber. Jeremy was going to inherit a lot from his parents as they had many farms: the Bamber house alone was over 300 acres and they also had an apartment in london. He didn’t like the idea that he would have to share all his wealth with his sister and potentially her two sons too. Soon the fingerprints from the silencer came by and it was Jeremy Bamber. Jeremy was arrested soon after but he was set free as he claimed that it was the silencer of his gun so, obviously, there would be his fingerprints. The investigation started again but the police could not find any evidence to surely determine the actual murderer.

Until the evidence came walking to the police. Jeremy’s girlfriend Julie called the police after they broke up and said that she had doubts that Jeremy was the one that killed his own family. He never straight up told her but gave little hints through his behaviour. Jeremy’s girlfriend claimed that Jeremy hired a hitman for 2000 pounds to kill his family. He already knew that his sister and nephews were at his parents house. The police also found a rusted/broken window in the basement; since all the other doors and windows were shut, the murderer must have entered through that window. This type of information lays with someone who knows the family and house and knows that the specific window is a safe way to get in. A month after the murders, Jeremy Bamber was officially arrested along with the alleged hitman. But Jeremy denied all the claims made by his girlfriend saying that her actions were mere revenge as he had cheated on her. Police had to set Jeremy free after 3 days in custody due to insufficient evidence. Amidst this situation, Jeremy flew to France when police were performing a full on investigation. Police investigated all the people who knew Jeremy. After the investigation, the police found out that Jeremy was a troubled child, bullied in school, involved in drug selling, and mainly found that he was all about money. He was very selfish and it was not a secret that he did not like the fact he had to share his wealth with his sister.

Jeremy was arrested at the airport on his way back from France. The trial started in the court. Police showed all the evidence they found. They claimed that Jeremy rode his bicycle to the white house farm and had his rifle on him as they found a big scratch on the red paint near the broken window (from where he entered the house, along with the scraps of the same red paint on the rifle. So the rifle was surely carried in the house through that window. The police concluded that Nevill, the father, was forced down from the second floor as he had scratches from the gun. One thing that supports the theory is that when Jeremy called the police, it was not a 911 call. Jeremy called the specific police station of his area, which would have taken him more time than straight up calling 911. Also, the police noticed that Jeremy was driving  suspiciously slow on the day of the murder,  to the  point that a police car overtook Jeremy’s car when they were rushing to the Bamber house. In the defense, Jeremy only had his sister’s mental illness as excuse and that the position that Shiela was found in was very hard to stage as a suicide as the shot was right under her chin. In the end, Jeremy was found guilty for all the 5 murders and was given 5 consecutive life sentences. This case is considered as a case of very poor judgement, considering the fact that the police did not have any ‘strong’ and clear evidence proving that Jeremy Bamber was the murderer. Jeremy was given the life sentence, but both the real motive and murderer still remains a mystery.