Bamber bid for review thrown out

Bamber, 51, wanted to challenge a refusal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice, to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal to be looked at again.

Yesterday’s hearing followed the rejection by a single judge, who studied the case papers in private, of Bamber’s application for permission to seek judicial review of the CCRC’s decision.

Bamber, who is serving a whole-life term for the 1985 killings, has always protested his innocence and claims his schizophrenic sister, Sheila Caffell, shot her family before turning the gun on herself in a remote Essex farmhouse.

Bamber and two other murderers are also involved in a European court battle against their “whole-life” prison terms.