Jailed Jeremy Bamber says police station decision could lead to his release | news news
Jeremy Bamber, who was convicted of murdering his family in 1985, believes a new police station verdict could lead to his release from prison.
The 62-year-old has always maintained his innocence and claimed he had nothing to do with the so-called White House Farm murders.
He is serving a life sentence for the murders of his adoptive parents Nevill and June Bamber, both 61, his adoptive sister Sheila Caffell, 28, and their six-year-old twins Daniel and Nicholas.
All were shot dead on 7 August 1985 at White House Farm in Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex.
Now the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has ruled against the police who brought about his conviction.
It concluded that Essex Police failed in their statutory duties by failing to refer 29 serious complaints to the IOPC about the way senior officials handled the case.
Bamber told the Mail on Sunday that the “endgame” was near in his 38-year battle to prove his innocence.
He claims his sister, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, killed the family before shooting herself.
He is the only life inmate in a British prison to maintain his innocence.
Bamber says officers withheld evidence and tampered with the crime scene.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is reviewing new evidence presented by Bamber’s lawyers last October.
In a letter to Bamber seen by The Mail on Sunday, the IOPC said: “After considering the nature of your complaints, points were raised relating to allegations that officers lied about evidence, altered witness statements and disclosed evidence to third parties.” Withheld and hidden evidence and tampered with a crime scene.’
It said these complaints could constitute allegations of serious corruption within the meaning of the IOPC’s legal guidelines.
“In this respect … your complaint falls under the obligatory forwarding criteria and should therefore have been forwarded to the IOPC for assessment after it was recorded in the first instance,” it said.
Bamber said: “It will be very difficult for the CCRC not to act very quickly once they have the IOPC report showing that Essex Police have failed in their statutory duties.” I think that is that Endgame.’
Essex Police told the Mail on Sunday it was an IOPC matter, while the regulator did not respond to a request for comment.
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