Jeremy Bamber lawyers challenge refusal of appeal

Criminal Cases Review Commission acted 'unlawfully and overstepped its powers' say lawyers for the convicted murderer

Jeremy Bamber, who was jailed for life in 1986 for the murders of five members of his family, arrives for a court of appeal hearing in 2002. Photograph: Michael Stephens/PA

Attrib.Eric Allison

guardian.co.uk, Mon 7 May 2012 14.41 BST

Lawyers acting for the convicted murderer Jeremy Bamber have issued a legal challenge to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) following itsdecision not to refer his case back to the court of appeal. They say the commission has acted "unlawfully, overstepped its powers and usurped the function of the appeal court".

The CCRC's decision last Thursday came after it considered new evidence, largely relating to a silencer attached to the rifle Bamber was said to have used to kill five members of his family in 1985.

Four eminent ballistic and wounds experts submitted reports suggesting the silencer was not attached to the rifle when the shots that killed Bamber's adoptive parents, June and Nevill, his sister Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twins, Nicholas and Daniel, were fired.

The silencer was a crucial element of the case against Bamber. The police initially thought Caffell had killed her family before turning the weapon on herself. The rifle was found next to her body, without the silencer, which was discovered later by relatives. The prosecution claimed Caffell did not have the reach to shoot herself with the silencer attached.

The CCRC rejected the new expert submissions, saying they did not give rise to a real possibility that the court of appeal would find Bamber's convictions unsafe. It described the new evidence as "matters of pure speculation and unsubstantiated allegations".

In a letter of claim to the CCRC, seen by the Guardian, Bamber's lawyers describe this reference as a "gross misrepresentation of the nature and content of the submissions". They say the commission should not dismiss expert evidence without calling for expert opinion countering it. They accuse the CCRC of "advancing expert opinion which, in the absence of the relevant expertise, it is not equipped to do".

The lawyers say the basis of a judicial review of the CCRC's decision will be that it acted unlawfully in applying the wrong test in determining whether to refer the case back to appeal, and failed to provide reasons why the correct test was not carried out.

Bamber, 51, was jailed for life in 1986. He was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years but, in 1994, the sentence was increased to whole life by the then home secretary, Michael Howard.

A spokesman for the CCRC said it was considering how to respond to the letter.

Jeremy Bamber: Julie Smerchanski (nee Mugford) subpoena'd?

Winnipeg woman's testimony could be key to appeal of five U.K.

 By Nick Martin, Winnipeg Free Press April 19, 2012

 

Jeremy Bamber was convicted in 1986 of murdering five members of his family — one of the most sensational British murder trials in decades.

Photograph by: REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubaz, REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubaz

WINNIPEG — Jeremy Bamber was convicted in 1986 of murdering five members of his family — one of the most sensational British murder trials in decades.


The 52-year-old Bamber has alleged all along that he was the victim of a wrongful conviction, and he'll find out next week if the British courts will grant him leave to appeal.


If the appeal goes ahead, a key witness could again be his former girlfriend, Julie Mugford — now Julie Smerchanski, a Winnipeg wife and mother, and director of assessment and instructional support services for the Winnipeg School Division.


"Yes, absolutely," he will call Smerchanski to testify should his client have his appeal heard, Bamber's lawyer Simon McKay said Wednesday from Leeds, England, "She was a key witness," McKay said, though he emphasized: "No one considered that her evidence alone convicted Bamber."


Smerchanski has not responded to emailed interview requests from the Winnipeg Free Press. She has an unlisted home phone number.


Bamber's case has resulted in several books and numerous television documentaries.


Bamber was adopted as a child into a relatively wealthy English farm family. In 1985, five members of his family were found shot to death, a rifle lying across the body of Bamber's non-biological adopted sister.

The victims included Bamber's adoptive parents, and his sister's two young children.


For weeks, police believed that the sister suffered from mental illness and had committed four murders before taking her own life.  But they eventually charged Bamber with all five murders, and he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.


McKay said that the Bamber trial has been so sensational in the United Kingdom for so many years, that a mythology has developed around it. The original trial created a media frenzy in Britain, complete with some media outlets offering tens of thousands of pounds for exclusive interviews.


A previous appeal bid failed in 2002, but that attempt to get a new trial was based entirely on DNA evidence, said McKay, who took up Bamber's case last year. McKay has had several highly publicized murder convictions overturned, and is representing several clients victimized in the ongoing hacked telephone and email scandal in Britain.


McKay said that he will allege in court that the police thoroughly mishandled the original murder investigation, and that some crucial evidence was contaminated. Bamber's legal team has pathologists and forensic experts who will testify that the evidence clearly points to the sister as the murderer, said McKay.

He said the charges against Bamber were laid after Mugford came forward and told police about statements he had allegedly made to her, McKay said, "It wasn't until the 2002 appeal that it was learned she had moved to Canada," McKay said. "I know journalists have come to Canada and tried to talk to her."


Extensive online coverage of the Bamber case indicates that Mugford played a crucial role in the 1986 trial, and that she has consistently declined to talk to the media.


McKay said that he believes he can compel Smerchanski to testify at an appeal.  "We're fairly certain we can issue a subpoena upon her," and that extradition treaties would force her to testify, he said.

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