Sheila Caffell

In 1985 schizophrenia was rarely talked about and few people had heard of the illness. Sheila's family had kept her mental heath problems a secret. It was hard to believe that Sheila was capable of murdering her own family but when you consider her mental health and use of illegal drugs then the reality that women do kill their children becomes obvious. Find out more about Sheila's medication click here to watch a video. Sheila had recently left St Andrews Hospital in Northampton after receiving treatment for schizophrenia. She had told her psychiatrist that her children were the ‘devils children’ and that one of them was going to rape and murder her. She had stated clearly that she wanted them dead. Her medication had been reduced and she had been smoking cannabis. That evening her parents, Nevill and June had raised the possibility of her children being fostered which undoubtedly would have upset Sheila. Sheila’s bed had not been slept in and the police crime scene photographs show that her body and the gun had been moved whilst the photographs were being taken but this was not mentioned to the jury in 1986. Contrary to popular belief it is not uncommon for mentally ill women or indeed Paranoid schizophrenics to kill their families or to commit suicide. Below are links to cases recently in the news in the UK alone. In the USA gun crime among women is more common simply because of their licensing laws. For further reading on Sheila Caffell see the tumblr blog on Jeremy's case here. To find out more about the link between schizophrenia and cannabis click here to read an article by Tazmin Whitefoot. See recent cases of mentally ill mothers killing their children: Sonia Bellfield Mentally ill mum stabs daughter to death Aisling Murray, a paranoid schizophrenic stabbed her five year old daughter 52 times Vivian Gamor murdered her children Fiona Donnison murdered her children and left the bodies in the boot of her car

In a statement to the Defence written after the trial Sheila's psychiatrist states that he was unaware of the psalms in the open pages of the Bible found by the body of Sheila. Dr Ferguson says the following: 'Having read the passages I can say that in my view they contain in them the themes, which over time, I knew were exercising Sheila Caffell. In short form, the struggle between good and evil or God and the Devil. He also commented on the inscription (which he was also unaware of at trial) on a cupboard door in the twins room which bears the legend 'I hate this place.' He made the following comments 'Assuming Sheila Caffell wrote this inscription it would not have surprised me. Firstly, because of her immaturity which I had observed, and secondly that I had formed the impression that she was not always comfortable when staying at the farmhouse. He also goes on 'Thirdly, I have been asked to consider a letter written by Colin Caffell, the estranged husband of Sheila, at a time, as it appeared, when Sheila had been discharged from my care in March 1985. I can confirm at the time of the trial I was wholly unaware of this letter or its contents. Having read this letter I am confident that had anyone chosen to question me in relation to its contents at trial, I would have certainly added to my evidence. . . . The letter (to Mr N Bamber) from Colin Caffell however, presents a possible scenario of which I was unaware, namely the possibility that Colin Caffell take over the full time care of the children from Sheila, and that he potentially sought to achieve this with the assistance of Nevill Bamber. This information in my view may have significance. As I pointed out in evidence, I had formed the view that Nevill Bamber was seen by Sheila Caffell as a very secure, caring and a strong support in her life, and indeed I had recorded at the time that she saw him as mentor. On the hypothesis that Nevill Bamber had pleaded Colin Caffell's case, I would have been of the view at the time, and now, that this could have had a potentially catastrophic effect on Sheila Caffell and affected her from two points of view, firstly from the point of view of having her children removed from her care, and secondly from the point of view that she may have projected onto her father a concept of evil in which he had hitherto not been involved in her thought process.'