Jeremy as a Rational Agent

[Erik Narramore]

AAlthough he clearly needed to act efficiently, Jeremy also needed to ensure that the crime scene implicated Sheila in every respect.  Thus, while I agree that he would most probably have quickly killed or incapacitated Nevill and June with shots to the head, it is possible he decided that further shots would be needed to both to make it look like Sheila had done the firing, rather than a more calculating person.  In the event, assuming for a moment Jeremy was the killer, there was no superfluous fusillade.  He had to keep firing and firing to negate them.

That raises an awkward question for the prosecution/pro-guilt side.  You could argue that the evidence of a melee points more to Sheila.  Personally, I've always thought the crime scene evidence points more to Sheila, partly for the reasons discussed here, but at same time, I can't get away from that nagging part of my brain that tells me it probably was Jeremy.

I don't believe there is a satisfactory answer to this one way or the other.  We assume Sheila was an irrational agent, but even a severe schizophrenic could potentially act in a perfectly rational and calculated manner.  Conversely, we assume Jeremy was a rational agent, but all his best-laid plans may have gone to pot due to chance and the thing could have ended up in screams, anger and confusion that we will never unravel, even with the finest hindsight.