Major twist could see ‘Britain’s most notorious murderer’ released from prison after 40 years

Wakefield Prison is home to some of Britain's most notorious criminals but one convicted murderer's case has just seen a major twist.

Jeremy Bamber remains one of the most recognisable names at the category A prison, having spent the last 40 years behind bars after he was found guilty of a truly horrific crime.

Back in 1986, when Bamber was just 25, he was convicted of murdering his wealthy farmer-landowner adoptive parents, Nevill and June, his sister Sheila Caffell, and her twin six-year-old sons, Daniel and Nicholas.

While police initially suspected it could have been a murder-suicide committed by Sheila, due in part to her schizophrenia diagnosis, Jeremy became the main suspect after his ex-girlfriend told police he'd been planning their murders for well over a year.

Jeremy Bamber has spent four decades behind bars (Peter Case/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

She first suggested that he'd hired a hitman to kill his family but when he had an alibi, she later claimed he'd done it himself and he was convicted in October 1986, before being told in 1988 that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

However, new 'evidence' has seemingly come to light and now, at the age of 64, Bamber's hopes of being proved innocent might have been given a significant boost.

Heidi Blake, a journalist at The New Yorker, tracked down PC Nick Milbank, who was on the lines for Essex Police on the night of the murders, and in her piece she claims that the police officer received a call on the night of the murder, which could prove to be a huge potential alibi for Bamber, as it was something he'd previously denied.

In Blake's 2024 article, she wrote: “He recalled hearing what might have been muffled speech – perhaps a ‘voice or a radio’ and noises that could have been ‘a door opening and closing, or a chair being moved’. I asked if this suggested that someone had been alive in the house. ‘Well, obviously,’ Milbank replied.”

A previous statement from 2002, said to be signed by Milbank, had denied that there was a 999 call on the night of the murders, but he suggested to Blake that he had no memory of signing it.

New 'evidence' appears to have come to light (Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) asked for the audio but the New Yorker denied and Essex Police then presented an alleged copy of the 2002 note, which reportedly wasn't in Milbank's handwriting but was signed by him.

Peculiarly, it also included a statement which read: “I have never to my knowledge spoken to the New Yorker.”

Before anyone could verify why Milbank was reporting two opposite things, Essex Police confirmed that he had died of cancer in September 2024, and Bamber's future was thrown up in the air once again.

Philip Walker, of the Jeremy Bamber Innocence Campaign, says that the CCRC failed to protect PC Milbank, as a potential whistleblower against Essex Police.

He told The Guardian: “The CCRC put him at risk and compromised his evidence by allowing the force to deal with him directly.

“The result is the CCRC’s dereliction of duty of care to Mr Milbank, who by all accounts was seriously ill at the time and was possibly pressured to produce a statement that was not factual. It’s obvious who should have interviewed Mr Milbank. The CCRC!”

Bamber has become known as one of the UK's most notorious murderers (Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

The latest twist saw Blake release audio footage of her interview with Milbank on her podcast Blood Relatives, where he seemingly confirms that a 999 call was made and that he made no signed statements on that evening.

Despite this evidence, Essex Police doubled down on its belief that Bamber is the man who killed his family, and therefore should remain behind bars until his death.

Essex Police said: “In August 1985, the lives of five people, including two children, were needlessly, tragically and callously cut short when they were murdered in their own home by Jeremy Bamber. In the years that followed, this case has been the subject of several appeals and reviews by the court of appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission – all of these processes have never found anything other than Bamber is the person responsible for killing his adoptive parents Nevill and June, sister Sheila Caffell and her two sons Nicholas and Daniel.”