Louis Theroux reveals why ‘legit’ people believe five-time killer Jeremy Bamber is innocent

Published

3 years ago

September 13, 2021

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After appearing on screen with neo-Nazis, violent prisoners, drug addicts and Jimmy Savile, Louis Theroux says he doesn’t shy away from “the troubling side of life”.

But for his latest project, the documentary maker has stepped away from the camera to delve into one of the UK’s most notorious murder cases.

Jeremy Bamber has spent more than three decades in jail after being convicted of fatally shooting his adoptive parents Nevill and June, his sister Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas, in 1985.

He has always protested his innocence and insists the murders at the family’s farmhouse in Essex were committed by Ms Caffell – a model nicknamed “Bambi” who was diagnosed with schizophrenia – before she turned the gun on herself.

It is a version of events that police initially believed, and Theroux says there are “legit” people who think Bamber is serving a whole-life prison term for a crime he didn’t carry out.

“Across the board you’ll find people who believe there were serious problems with the case, in terms of how it was investigated and how it was prosecuted,” he tells Sky News.

“There are things that are quite hard to explain on both sides.

“There was no forensic evidence of his presence at the farm, which is kind of extraordinary.”

Theroux says former detective Mark Williams-Thomas – who helped expose Savile’s sexual abuse – is one of those who believes Bamber “didn’t do it”.

He explains: “There’s a lot that’s positive about people attempting to find cases of historic crime in which there may have been an error.

“A lot of them are legit people. There are a lot of prominent journalists who would say they would feel Bamber is innocent.

“It’s not by any means a kind of fringe belief.”

While viewers are used to seeing Theroux feature in his documentaries, he is executive producer of The Bambers: Murder At The Farm, a new four-part series which re-examines the case and explores evidence that has emerged since the original trial.

It features first-hand testimony and previously unseen archive footage, as well as recordings of Bamber talking to a journalist while in jail.

So does Theroux himself believe Bamber committed the murders?

He remains tight-lipped on that, apologising for being “coy”, but admits the documentary has made him ask questions about who was responsible.

Theroux says: “Whether you think Jeremy Bamber did it or whether you think Sheila did it, both scenarios have anomalies, or at least require one to accept… surprising and in some cases seemingly anomalous details.

“The journey I went on was hearing something and going ‘If Jeremy Bamber did it, how did they explain that?’ – or ‘If Sheila did it, how would they explain that?'”

He adds: “Because of the nature of the case, we’re not in the realm of absolute certainty.”

The documentary’s makers had hoped to interview Bamber, but director Lottie Gammon says the Ministry of Justice refused to allow it.

She says some of those campaigning for Bamber’s release have “legitimate” concerns, including how police treated the murder scene.

“There’s a lot of question marks over their behaviour,” she says.

“No one really clearly explains – because they didn’t really have to during the trial – how did he do this crime? That’s not something that was nailed down.

“Because there are these loose threads, many loose threads, it’s easy for people to look at it and have questions.

“I think this case is quite suited to the online world now of deep diving into these cases – especially over lockdown, these groups have really proliferated.”

What happened in the White House Farm murders?

On 7 August 1985, Jeremy Bamber rings police claiming his father had called him to say his sister Sheila Caffell had ‘gone crazy’ and had a gun
Police attend White House Farm and find the bodies of Bamber’s parents Nevill and June, Ms Caffell and her twin sons Nicholas and Daniel
Officers initially treat the case as a murder-suicide after Ms Caffell is found with her fingers around the rifle used in the shootings
A silencer which allegedly had traces of Ms Caffell’s blood on it is found in a cupboard three days after the murders
A month after the killings, Bamber’s then girlfriend, Julie Mugford, tells police he plotted to kill his parents for £436,000 inheritance
Bamber is charged with the murders and stands trial in 1986
The trial hears expert evidence that Ms Caffell – who had two gunshot wounds – could not have placed the silencer in the cupboard given her injuries from the first shot
A jury finds Bamber guilty by majority verdict and he is sentenced to five life prison terms
The judge, Mr Justice Drake, calls Bamber ‘warped and evil beyond belief’

Bamber has lost several legal challenges over his conviction since the original trial, including an appeal which was dismissed in 2002.

At the time, the Court of Appeal judges said the more they examined the detail of the case, the more likely they thought that “the jury were right”.

They also concluded there was no conduct by the police or prosecution which would have “adversely affected the jury’s verdict”.

In 2011, Bamber contacted Ofcom over a documentary about him which he claimed invaded his privacy – but the complaint was rejected.

Theroux believes the convicted killer will “probably take issue with parts” of his latest series.

“Whether or not you believe he did it, he’s on a campaign to have himself freed,” he says.

“I think he’d appreciate the fact we’ve done a nuanced and forensic view, but we’ve clearly included material that undermines or disputes that (campaign).”

The four-part series, airing on Sky Crime, has been made by Theroux’s production company Mindhouse, which he founded with his wife, producer Nancy Strang, and fellow documentary maker Aaron Fellows.

Now aged 51, Theroux says he intends to keep making documentaries for another “good 25 to 30 years”.

“You could either say that’s a lot or a little,” he adds.

“The stories I most enjoy are not overly cuddly. I think there’s a reason I’ve been on BBC2 for 25 years, as opposed to BBC1.

“I’m interested in stories that have a dimension to them that is in some ways troubling.

“I don’t think you should shy away from the troubling side of life – that’s sort of my bread and butter.”

But despite the recent success of his celebrity interview podcast Grounded, a reboot of Theroux’s TV show When Louis Met… – when he famously spent time with the likes of Savile, Max Clifford and Neil and Christine Hamilton – isn’t on the cards.

“I’ve got a lot older. Times have changed, TV’s changed,” he says.

“It would be like doing Weird Weekends again. It would be quite weird, wouldn’t it?

“I would never rule out doing programmes that feature celebrities in… a single person profile, or go on a journey with someone and I’m on camera. I could see that happening and that would be fun.”

The Bambers: Murder At The Farm will premiere on Sky Crime and NOW on Sunday 26 September at 9pm.

Entertainment

Dabney Coleman, actor who starred in Boardwalk Empire and 9 to 5, dies

Published

5 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Dabney Coleman, actor who starred in Boardwalk Empire and 9 to 5, dies

Lily Tomlin, Morgan Fairchild and Ben Stiller have led tributes to “one-of-a-kind” actor Dabney Coleman following his death aged 92.

Coleman made his career playing comedic villains, mean-spirited bosses and villains in films including 9 to 5 and Tootsie, as well as playing Commodore Louis Kaestner in Boardwalk Empire.

Lily Tomlin, who starred alongside him in 9 To 5 with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, said: “We just loved him.”

In her post to X, the actress shared a photo of her character Violet Newstead dressed in a Snow White costume beside a tense-looking Coleman as her egotistical boss Franklin Hart Jr.

Morgan Fairchild, who starred in Falcon Crest and Friends, described Coleman as a “great one”.

“So very sorry to hear of the death of the wonderful #DabneyColeman”, she wrote on X alongside a black and white photo of them together.

“We went out for a bit in the ’80s and I adored him. This town has lost one of a kind!”

Coleman “took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely” in his Santa Monica home on Thursday, his daughter said in a statement on Friday on behalf of the family.

“My father crafted his time here on Earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humour that tickled the funny bone of humanity”, she said.

“As he lived, he moved through this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery.”

Ben Stiller, Zoolander and Meet The Parents actor, praised Coleman for paving the way for character actors.

“The great Dabney Coleman literally created, or defined, really – in a uniquely singular way – an archetype as a character actor.

“He was so good at what he did it’s hard to imagine movies and television of the last 40 years without him.”

Coleman starred in a number of films and TV series in the 1960s, then made his breakthrough as a corrupt mayor in the satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in 1976.

His film credits include a computer scientist in WarGames, Tom Hanks’ father in You’ve Got Mail and a chief firefighter in The Towering Inferno.

He won a best actor Golden Globe for The Slap Maxwell Story and an Emmy for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 legal drama Sworn To Silence.

Coleman also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards as part of the cast of crime drama Boardwalk Empire and received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his starring role in the NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill.

Entertainment

Yvette Fielding says she was assaulted by Rolf Harris on Blue Peter and left alone with Jimmy Savile

Published

6 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Yvette Fielding says she was assaulted by Rolf Harris on Blue Peter and left alone with Jimmy Savile

Blue Peter’s youngest ever presenter has claimed disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris sexually assaulted her when she was a teenage host of the children’s show.

Yvette Fielding, who joined the long-running BBC programme aged 18, told the Sun newspaper how the paedophile predator squeezed and patted her bottom after finding herself alone with him in a TV studio.

The now 55-year-old also recalled an uncomfortable experience with “grotesque” Jimmy Savile, who was later revealed to be one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.

Fielding has questioned the role of the BBC in allowing their behaviour, arguing people in the industry “must have known”.

She became a Blue Peter presenter in 1987 and left five years later, going on to host a string of BBC programmes including The Heaven And Earth Show, The General and City Hospital.

Recounting the incident with Harris, she said: “It was very confusing and shocking – just bizarre to think Rolf Harris was squeezing and patting my bottom and I am standing there, thinking ‘I don’t know what to do’.

“Other people in the industry must have known what he was like and you left me alone in the studio with him.

“That shouldn’t have happened. I must have been 18 or 19.

“I think a lot of them did know.”

Harris was a household favourite for decades before his dramatic downfall after being convicted of a string of indecent assaults against young girls.

Stripped of his honours, he died of neck cancer and old age in May last year, aged 93.

He was also known to be associated with Savile, who managed to conceal his crimes until after his death in 2011.

On her meeting with the late depraved DJ, Fielding told the Sun: “He took my hand and started stroking it. ‘Look into my eyes’, he said, ‘And tell me what you’re thinking’.”

“He was grotesque,” she added.

“I just don’t understand why the BBC allowed him to get away with that for as long as he did.”

Savile worked for much of his career at the BBC presenting programmes including Top Of The Pops and Jim’ll Fix It.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

Entertainment

Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to late bandmate Sarah Harding

Published

12 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to late bandmate Sarah Harding

Girls Aloud have taken to the stage for the first gig of their reunion tour with emotional tributes to their late bandmate Sarah Harding.

A 30-minute delay to the show blamed on “Dublin motorway closures”, did nothing to dim the delight of fans when Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh appeared on stage, standing on individual podiums singing their 2008 song Untouchable.

The comeback tour has been dedicated to Harding, who was diagnosed with cancer and died in September 2021 aged 39.

During the show, the group performed a duet with Harding, whose vocals to I’ll Stand By You played as they joined in live on-stage.

They later sang one of their biggest hits, The Promise, during which the singers stopped and turned their backs to the audience to watch footage of Harding performing the song on her own.

A post on the official Girls Aloud X account said: “Show 1 done. Dublin you were absolutely INCREDIBLE. What a start to the #TheGirlsAloudShow tour.”

The singers won Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and formed Girls Aloud, going on to achieve four UK number one singles and a Brit award.

They reunited with new music for their 10th anniversary in 2012, while a second reunion was planned for their 20th anniversary when Harding was diagnosed with cancer.

Less than an hour before their expected arrival at the 3Arena in Dublin, the group issued an updated stage time on X.
It said due to “Dublin motorway closures”, the band would arrive 30 minutes later than expected at 9.15pm.

Ahead of the show, a post on the official Girls Aloud X account said: “Rehearsals? Done. Choreography? Ready. Outfits? Fitted. Girls? Aloud.

“…We’ve been working so hard to make this show special for all of you.”

After two back-to-back opening nights in Dublin’s 3Arena, Girls Aloud will play two concerts at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Monday and Tuesday, before heading to the Manchester AO Arena from Thursday to Saturday.

In November, the group had to add six extra dates to their UK and Ireland 2024 arena tour due to “unprecedented demand” following ticket pre-sales.