Comparing Jeremy Bamber and Brian Blackwell

[Erik Narramore]

Perhaps a useful case for comparison is that of Brian Blackwell:

https://infogalactic.com/info/Brian_Blackwell

Blackwell murdered his parents, then went on holiday with his girlfriend, before returning and pretending that he was locked out of his parents' house.  He left the police to discover the bodies and when informed, affected to know nothing about it.  It is clear that, prior to the killings, and in the aftermath, there was a pattern in Blackwell's behaviour of erraticism and mental disturbance.  This was a man completely detached from reality.

Does this match or resemble Jeremy?  Certainly, there are similarities between the two men, but Jeremy's apparent criminal and abnormal behavioural background before and after the killings is in no way comparable to Blackwell's and, unlike in the Blackwell case, the psychological explanations for Jeremy's guilt rest on suppositions rather than firm evidence.

Neither Bamber or Bain faced any sort of 'crisis of discovery' that could prompt reactive violence.  Blackwell had been discovered committing serious fraud and lying.  Jeremy was probably suspected of the holiday park break-in, and there were financial and estate matters hanging in the air, but he was not being threatened with 'discovery' of any sort of wrong-doing.  Also, while Jeremy was far from a perfect individual, the behavioural and attitudinal issues he had were within the range of the norm for an immature man of his age.  He is very far from Brian Blackwell.   

Another case is the Bain family killings, but although the Bain tragedy resembles the Bamber affair on the surface, there are some fundamental differences.  There was no financial element to the Bain case.  It was supposed that David Bain had simply run amok.  Interestingly, there is a similarity between Robin Bain and Sheila Caffell.  I believe it is likely that Robin Bain was suffering from some sort of recurrent long-term serious depression.  Depression can develop into psychosis.  He also had professional problems and there was a witness who alleged he was committing incestuous molestation of one of his daughters, though I am not certain that latter allegation was true.