Sheila was like a zombie or drowsy

[Erik Narramore]

Where does Pamela Boutflour confirm that Sheila was in a drowsy state, or as is sometimes also said, like a 'zombie'?  I have read seven statements from Pamela Boutflour and none of them mention this. 

The statement from Dr. Iliffe about seeing Sheila at the apartment in March 1985 suggests a consistent pattern of demeanour and behaviour, as her manner on that occasion was not dissimilar to that reported around the time of the tragedy.  In March, she was not yet medicated but was drinking and taking illicit drugs.  We know from the toxicology report that this continued.  I think the antipsychotics made Sheila worse, not better.

[Erik Narramore]

Dr. Iliffe was a doctor who attended on Sheila at her apartment in March 1985.  This was prior to Sheila commencing medication.  Among other things, he reported her as giving one syllable answers to questions.

[Erik Narramore]

From Carol Ann Lee (Kindle version)

"In Wix, Pamela told Robert that the conversation with Sheila had been 'hard-going'. She sounded like 'a zombie' and didn't want to feed the twins or look after herself, which was why June wanted their advice about 'putting Sheila into a nursing home'. Describing the phone call to Colin some days later, Pamela recalled an extra detail: June had wanted Sheila to stay with a 'Christian community in Bournemouth'."

It is unclear who or what is Carol Ann Lee's source, since nothing like this is mentioned in any of Pamela Boutflour's seven statements.

[Erik Narramore]

To her credit, Carol Ann Lee does add references, and so I have now been able to check her source for the "zombie" claim.  It appears this was an article in the Guardian, "The Bambi I Married".  Unfortunately, Carol Ann Lee does not provide the date of the article, but I expect it was contemporaneous and was written by or about Colin Caffell.  If so, that means the source for the "zombie" phrasing is Colin Caffell himself, which in my view makes it inconsequential for our purposes as he is far from an objective source and his book, while excellent, is not factual (nor does it purport to be, in fairness).  I shall have to check both editions of Mr Caffell's book to see if he uses the word there too and perhaps also contact The Guardian as the article does not appear to have been indexed online

Wilkes' source was probably Colin Caffell.

There is an outside chance that Robert W. Boutflour uses the word in his statement of 10th. September 1985.  I will have to check that statement.

In summary, I can't be absolutely sure at the moment, but it looks like the word has been drawn from the previous writings of Colin Caffell or an article about him.

[Erik Narramore]

Read page 158 of Carol Ann Lee's book, then look at reference 25 of Chapter 19 in the sources section at the back.

You will then understand that, in all probability, Carol Ann Lee's source was Colin Caffell.

I appreciate that Colin Caffell must be basing his account on a conversation he will have had with Robert W. Boutflour, but he may be basing it loosely on such a conversation, just as Robert Boutflour may have relayed only a loose gist of what Pamela Boutflour told him.  We must remember that Pamela Boutflour mentioned nothing of this in her own statements - of which there are no less than seven.

[Erik Narramore]

The prosecution have nothing to establish one way or the other whether Sheila was drowsy or sleepy that evening.  Pamela Boutflour says she was talking monosyllabically, but the March 1985 statement from Dr. Illiffe says the same and his visit to Sheila's flat was before she was premedicated.  It could easily be that the monosyllabic speech pattern was the result of her mood or her underlying condition and nothing to do with being somnolent.  It could just be that she was angry or in a sulk and did not want to speak to Pamela.