The Tragic Story Of Sheila Caffell, The Woman Whose Brother Framed Her For Killing Their Entire Family

The Tragic Story Of Sheila Caffell, The Woman Whose Brother Framed Her For Killing Their Entire Family

For more than a month after the brutal 1985 murders at White House Farm in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, England, Jeremy Bamber convinced police that his sister Sheila Caffell had killed their family before turning the gun on herself. In August 1985, 28-year-old Sheila Caffell was accused of committing one of the worst mass murders in British history and then turning the gun on herself. Police believed that Caffell had experienced a psychotic break and murdered her father, mother, and her twin six-year-old boys at her parents' farmhouse before putting a rifle to her own chin. The only member of the family to survive the massacre was her brother, Jeremy Bamber, who had left the house earlier that evening. For a month, the police believed this version of events, given to them by Bamber, until investigators discovered that Caffell had been shot in the head — twice. Then, police caught Bamber laughing at the funeral and learned that he was trying to sell nude photos of his sister to the tabloids for £20,000, quickly causing him to become the prime suspect. Learn more about the tragic story of Sheila Caffell and how her brother framed her for the infamous White House Farm murders On August 7, 1985, Sheila Caffell and her two children — a pair of twin boys — were killed, along with her parents, by her brother Jeremy Bamber in what became known as the White House Farm murders. Today, Bamber is one of only 75 inmates currently serving life in prison in the United Kingdom. But at the time, Bamber pinned the murders on Caffell, claiming that she’d “gone crazy and took the gun.” And were it not for the shocking testimony from Bamber’s ex-girlfriend, the murders would still be blamed on Caffell to this day. The murders were one of the most heinous mass killings in modern British history, and they captured the country’s attention. And the story of the slayings was recently dramatized in HBO’s limited series The Murders at White House Farm, which pinned the blame solely on Jeremy Bamber once again. But Bamber’s legal team insists that their client was railroaded. And even some legal experts today question whether he could have committed the crimes — opening the possibility, once again, that Sheila Caffell killed her parents and her own children. Sheila Caffell lived with mental health issues all her life. But in 1983, amidst growing strain on her relationship with her parents, she went to a psychiatrist who formally diagnosed her with schizophrenia. The psychiatrist described her as agitated, paranoid, and psychotic. But her adoptive mother had another, less complimentary, name for her: “the devil’s child.” Caffell reportedly once admitted to her mother that she worried she was capable of killing her boys, and she occasionally spoke of dying by suicide. But her threats weren’t taken seriously. That is, of course, until the night of August 7, 1985, when Jeremy Bamber called the police to inform them that his entire family — his father Nevill, his mother June, his sister Sheila, and Sheila’s six-year-old twin boys — were shot to death at the White House Farm. At the time, Jeremy Bamber told the police that his sister had “gone crazy and has the gun.” And Caffell’s recent diagnosis, along with her strained relationship with her mother and the murder weapon found in her hands, led police to believe this explanation was the difficult, albeit correct, one. But, in the subsequent days, Bamber’s ex-girlfriend revealed to police that he’d been plotting their massacre. Combined with the discovery of a silencer that contained Sheila’s blood, and the revelation that she’d been shot twice in the head prompted the police to arrest Bamber for the murder of his family so he could inherit their estate worth more than $500,000. Eventually, Bamber was convicted of the murders on October 28, 1986. A jury found 10-2 in favor of the prosecution. Bamber was sentenced to five life sentences for the murders of Neville and June Bamber, Sheila Caffell, and her sons Daniel and Nicholas. Reevaluating The Evidence Against Jeremy Bamber In February 2021, investigator Mark Williams-Thomas — who helped uncover the sex crimes of former British television host Jimmy Savile — told The Daily Mail that he believed Jeremy Bamber was innocent, and there was “irrefutable proof” that his sister, Sheila Caffell, was the true culprit of the horrific crimes. “I don’t believe Jeremy Bamber murdered his family — I think his sister Sheila Caffell did it and then took her own life,” he said, further explaining that Bamber’s behavior after the crimes were not evidence of guilt. Bamber’s laughter when questioned about the crimes, his sale of everything in the home that even had a remote value, his attempts to sell topless photos of his sister to the tabloids, and even having his mother’s beloved dog put down were merely just evidence of “shock” about the horrific nature of the situation. And to this day, Jeremy Bamber continues to maintain his innocence. His previous appeals were denied, and as of March 2021, his lawyers have filed yet another appeal. What happens with this latest appeal remains to be seen. But for now, Jeremy Bamber is still sitting in jail, serving five life sentences. And his sister, Sheila Caffell, remains listed as one of his five unfortunate victims.