New forensic report casts doubt on notorious murder case

ITV's Tonight discloses new forensic evidence which casts doubts over the conviction of a man for one of the most notorious crimes in living memory.

The programme investigates a multiple murder in a remote English farmhouse involving a beautiful model, a scheming son and a jilted girlfriend.

Nearly 26 years after Jeremy Bamber was jailed for life for murdering five members of his family, new forensic reports cast doubt on his conviction.

Criminologist Mark Williams-Thomas takes a look at the new findings and hears from the man who still protests his innocence.

Jeremy Bamber was found guilty of murdering his mother, father, sister and her two sons in 1986.

But he has always said that his sister Sheila Caffell killed her sons and parents - then turned the gun on herself.

Now the Criminal Cases Review Commission is poised to make a decision on whether to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal for a second time.

A first appeal was rejected in 2002 but Bamber's new defence lawyer Simon McKay has lodged a new legal submission.

Mr McKay talks to the programme about new experts he has enlisted in the United States to look at aspects of the evidence.

One expert has looked at the wounds that killed Bamber’s sister and concluded that they are consistent with those caused by a rifle without a silencer attachment, going against the prosecution evidence in the original trial.

A second expert has also concluded that burns marks on Mr Bamber senior’s back may possibly have been caused by a rifle muzzle with no silencer attached, again going against the original prosecution evidence.

The programme speaks to Jeremy Bamber’s cousin David Boutflour, who insists that the original conviction is safe and the real culprit was found guilty.

The programme enlists a UK ballistics expert to test the US evidence and recruits former top murder cop Mick Gradwell to review the new evidence.

A decision by the Criminal Cases Review Commission is expected in the next few weeks.

Bamber: The New Evidence is on ITV1 at 7.30pm.

If you’d like to get in touchwith the programme please email tonight@itv.com