Yet Another Sheila Scenario

[Erik Narramore]

There are just too many bits of doubt, not just the Sheila problem but other things.  The fact that the sedation theory can be so easily and effortlessly discredited is rather worrying.

I don't need to offer a Sheila scenario and the defence don't have to.  It's enough to demonstrate that the Jeremy scenario is unsafe or unsatisfactory, or both.  That's all the law requires.

Any Sheila scenario is also of limited usefulness because there will always be holes, unexplained oddities and inconsistencies in everything.

What I will do is offer some thoughts on what the issues are in constructing a Sheila scenario, with some of the scenario mixed in.  It will match the evidence as I understand it.  You are no more an authority on the crime scene than anybody else here.

(i). First, I don't believe the silencer was used.  (You should not take that to mean I am making any accusations against the relatives.  The silencer may have been introduced into evidence innocently).

(ii). I'm not going to go into what catalysed Sheila's actions or what - if any - motives she may have had.  That can only be pure speculation.

(iii). If Sheila did this, we have to tackle the problem of how she uses the gun, even whether she used more than one gun, which I believe is quite possible.  She would need to have a knowledge and skills base with guns, though it wouldn't need to be great because the Anschutz is easy to use and handle, as is the air rifle, which I consider to be the other ballistic candidate.  Maybe Jeremy is still culpable in that he may have encouraged her in the belief she would fly off the handle, maybe not - again, that's speculation.

(iv). She would need to notice that Jeremy has left the gun out.  Maybe she doesn't see it, because it's out of sight, but she would need to intuit that he has left it in a certain place.  Maybe she notices another gun as well.  She also has to note where the ammunition is.

(v).  There would need to be a row/argument among the adults in the house, then they all retire.  Nevill did have harsh words with Barbara Wilson at some point on the phone and it does seem that June put on a front with Pamela Boutflour in their phone call.

(vi). Sheila is not sedated, I'm happy with that assumption.  As the summer evening drags on into night, maybe she can't sleep and sits up in bed or sits on the bed.  Maybe she is having awake dreams and delusions and starts walking around the house. One question I would have for Jeremy, if I could speak to him, would be whether he knew if Sheila wandered round the house aimlessly.

(vii). We can surmise from the pathological report that at maybe 3 a.m., she goes to the kitchen for something to eat.

(viii). We then need to have them in an argument, because Nevill has to make the call to Jeremy.  That may mean that one or both parents have heard her wandering around, and concerned maybe Nevil goes downstairs.  Maybe there is then a heated argument resumed and Sheila suddenly remembers the gun and maybe with the initial intention of threatening Nevill with it, she starts waving it around.

(ix). There is then a stand-off in the kitchen.  Nevill is her father and also a magistrate.  He doesn't want official attention in this situation, as it would almost-certainly mean that Sheila is sectioned.  Therefore, he calls Jeremy.  Not necessarily because he thinks Jeremy will be useful in this situation, but because Jeremy is the first person that springs to mind and he's close family, which helps confidentiality, and he's near.  At this point, Nevil probably assumes nothing will happen, he just needs to take the gun off Sheila, put her to bed and contact a psychiatrist in the morning on the family's terms.  Forgive me, I don't quite recall off-hand the exact time the trial officially decided the claimed call would have been placed.  Let's just say 3.26 .a.m., but I may alter that.

(x). Jeremy takes a while to answer because he is asleep after a long day at the farm.  By the time he does, the stand-off is broken and Sheila is haring off upstairs.  Nevill must go after her, so terminates the call or leaves the phone off the hook (again, I'd have to recap the mechanics of how that call ended).

(xi). Sheila fires at Nevill on the main stairway and then follows him back down the stairs.  Nevill just wants to seize the gun off his daughter, which explains his injuries, but it's his daughter, so he also doesn't want to injure her.

(xii). Sheila is the one with the gun, and that gives her the crucial edge, as does Nevill's innate fatherliness, decency and chivalry.  She fires a few more times.  Nevill is now incapacitated and seriously injured, but not dead.

(xiii). Sheila then returns upstairs, fires at June, then returns downstairs to re-load, which takes her a long time, during which June moves around the master bedroom badly injured.  In the second fusillade, she fires again at Nevill, leaving him for dead, then fires at June again.  She then re-loads some more and goes back and kills the twins. I will assume for now that she does all this with the same gun.

(xiv). She washes herself and cleans up, and makes herself look presentable.

(xv). Then she re-loads again with just a single cartridge, overlooking another bullet in the breech or magazine.  She shoots herself twice, perhaps the second shot is due to a gun malfunction or her own reflex on the trigger.  It's a semi-automatic.

(xvi). I think Nevill was still alive for some time, which explains the large pool of blood on the kitchen floor.  I think he was in and out of consciousness, staggered to his feet, and fell back in the chair and eventually died.