Murderer loses latest attempt at appeal

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.

But after reviewing material provided by Bamber’s legal team, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said yesterday it had reached “a provisional decision not to refer his murder convictions to the Court of Appeal”.

The CCRC said it had sent Bamber’s legal team an 89-page document setting out its analysis of the case and the reasons for the provisional decision and, as is normal in such cases, they now have three months in which to respond before a final decision is delivered.

Last year, it emerged that photographs which were used as prosecution evidence against Bamber were to be reviewed after an expert claimed there were discrepancies on crime scene pictures.

Bamber’s defence team claimed the police photos of the murder scene cast doubt on part of the prosecution’s case.

Bamber, who is being held in Full Sutton prison in York, has been behind bars for 24 years for shooting his wealthy adopted parents, June and Neville, his sister Ms Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons Daniel and Nicholas at their farmhouse in Essex in August 1985.

The 50-year-old was given a whole life tariff after being convicted of the murders in October 1986.

In 2009, Bamber lost a Court of Appeal challenge against the order that he must die behind bars.