Robert W. Boutflour, Jnr.: The Key Player

[Erik Narramore]

Robert Boutflour was the patriarch who wrote that rather disingenuous note to the jury in reply to their famous question.

He also maintained to the jury that he measured his wealth in friends, not 'LSD'.  I don't accept that.  On the other hand, I must say that the idea he, or any other family member, would frame Jeremy is an extraordinary claim and must meet Laplace's principle.

The Laplace principle is not insurmountable, though.

[Erik Narramore]

It took him a while for Robert Boutflour to tell the police what he told them, didn't it?

[Erik Narramore]

Possibly Robert Boutflour may overall be getting harsh treatment.  Even if he was motivated by money, you could argue that this was only for the security of his own family.  Jeremy, for his part, had shown a reluctance to settle down.  He wanted the money for his own gratification, or so it seems.  But whatever the truth about all that, we are still left with the question of whether Jeremy did it.

Whatever Robert's motives, the evidence has to stand up on its own.

[Erik Narramore]

While a key player, Robert Boutflour was only one factor of three.

Those factors worked together.  If the relatives had given full-throated support to Jeremy, I doubt the police would have taken Julie Mugford's evidence seriously; and without Stan Jones, I think she would have been dismissed as a fantasist.

It was Robert Boutflour who reported the silencer to the police and demanded a meeting with a chief officer of Essex Police.