Jeremy was the obvious suspect from the start

[Erik Narramore]

At first, literally everybody without exception accepted it was Sheila.  Even the relatives, Colin Caffell and Stan Jones.  The relatives and Stan Jones only became sceptical when listening to Jeremy, and even Stan Jones defended Jeremy for quite some time while also suspicious of him.

I am neutral but I disagree that Jeremy was the obvious suspect.

Sheila is the obvious suspect.  If you apply Occam's razor, Sheila did it because:

(i). all entry points to the farmhouse were secure and there was no evidence of an intruder;
(ii). Sheila was found with the rifle;
(iii). everybody in the farmhouse was found dead, including Sheila;
(iv). the rifle was simple to use;
(v). Sheila was severely mentally-ill;
(vi). the son, who lives just over two miles away, claims that he received a call from the father saying Sheila had gone mad with a gun;
(vii). there is no evidence to say that he can't have received that call;
(viii). there is nothing else linking the son to the scene other than that call he claims he received;
(ix). in theory, the son could have had an inheritance motive to kill the family and frame Sheila, but in reality the inheritance would have been a complex affair and he was already comfortably off and more or less assured a comfortable future;
(x). there was no indication that the son was mentally-ill and he had no violent history at all;
(xi). the son was observed crying at the scene;
(xii). the son behaved strangely at the funeral and so on, but he had been prescribed valium;
(xiiii). the son's former girlfriend claims he confessed to her his involvement in the murders, but she only came forward with this information after he split up with her;
(xiv). if the son had hired a contract killer, that would mean the killer was willing to eliminate two six year old boys;
(xv). on a similar point, if the son was involved, that means he has murdered his two six year old nephews who he used to play football with at the farmhouse;
(xvi). Sheila's blood was in the sound moderator, which this was retrieved from the gun cupboard by relatives, not by police, despite a search of the gun cupboard.  The relatives have a clear motive for undermining Jeremy and his inheritance of the estate.

In Jeremy's favour, everything can be simply explained.  To implicate Jeremy, we have to come up with a highly complex and risky scenario that, in places, make little or no sense.

[Erik Narramore]

Additionally, it's worth noting what happened at the trial.

The jury was split 10 to 2, which suggests more than 2 jurors were sceptical.  Carol Ann Lee claims that she spoke to a police officer who claims he spoke to a juror who said the jury had no clue what to do and only found Jeremy guilty because of the judge's summing-up.  Carol Ann Lee could be making that up, but the jury took their time to reach a decision and had to be given a Watson direction, then a majority direction.

Some journalists who observed the trial have commented that when the jury was sent out, it was assumed that the verdict would be Not Guilty.

[Zak Beresford]

Jeremy was the obvious suspect for one reason also and this is not a sexist remark Erik.

He was male.

If it had been a mentally Ill brother I believe it would have turned out very differently