Contribute to Forensic Costs: Hand Swabs

We are currently campaigning to raise £2,000 for forensic work to be carried out on the ‘Chain of Evidence’ of a prosecution exhibit from the 1986 trial of Jeremy Bamber for which he is serving a Life Tariff in prison.

Hand swabs – Sheila Caffell’s hands were found to have very low levels of lead on them and the prosecution deemed this to be proof that she did not handle a gun that had been fired 25 times. Nevertheless, the evidence of swabs taken from her hands had been tampered with and was initially rejected at the lab. Also, their exhibit numbers were changed. It is possible that Sheila's swabs were swapped with those taken from Nevill Bamber.

A Chain of Evidence protects the integrity of material evidence obtained by police. It is a criminal offence to alter evidence chains because it can seriously affect the outcome of a trial in which the items are exhibits. In this case there are serious and specific concerns about tampering with the ‘Chain of Evidence’ material pertaining to the swabs. The report you pay for will then be used with material already obtained in a new application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.