An almost expressionless Julie Mugford was on the arm of an inconsolable Jeremy Bamber as she mourned the death of her family. At the time, police had ruled the deaths of Jeremy’s adoptive parents Neville and June, his adoptive sister Sheila Caffell, and their twin sons Daniel and Nicholas Caffell, a murder-suicide.
Authorities believed that the schizophrenic Sheila killed the entire family before turning the gun on herself. However, Julie Mugford changed her testimony and placed the blame firmly on her ex-boyfriend Jeremy Bamber. Upon further investigation, prosecutors found enough evidence to indict Jeremy and convince a jury of his guilt.
Julie lives a quiet life with her husband Glen and is an education officer in Canada.
After giving her incriminating testimony, Julie left the UK to travel. She met her husband, Glen Smerchanski, during a trip to Australia in 1990.
The couple married, settled in Winnipeg, Canada, and welcomed two children who are now adults.
Julie got a job as a special needs teacher before being promoted to assistant principal at an elementary school. She now works as an education officer in Winnipeg.
“He has remade his life,” said a neighbor. The Daily Mail. “She’s not the same person from time to time. She and Glen are a lovely couple.” Julie lives an ocean away from Britain, but the memory of the White House Farm murders still haunts her.
“Julie just wishes it would all go away and we can get on with our lives,” Glen said. “How would you feel if you did the right thing and your life kept getting ruined by him?”
Before leaving Britain, Julie sold her story to the News of the World for £25,000, a small fortune at the time. She told the outlet that she was completely in love with Jeremy, though he did little to hide her infidelity from her. Julie said:
“Jeremy completely made me lose my mind. He was a skillful lover. He taught me to enjoy sex like never before. I did everything for him. While he was happy, I was happy. I gave him everything, including myself. I knew he was under his spell.”
Why did Julie turn against a lover she held in such high esteem? Bamber’s womanizing ways proved to be her downfall when a phone call to an ex-girlfriend and a subsequent fight with Julie forced Julie to end the relationship. Julie went a step further and she revealed to the authorities everything she knew about Bamber’s role in the murders.
Julie said that her motivation for speaking to the police was not revenge but a need to clear her conscience. She knew that Bamber would go to prison, but she did it anyway.
“I felt that I was on the verge of a breakdown and that soon I would have to tell the police,” Julie told the News of the World. “That meant that she would be responsible for sending the man she loved to prison, perhaps for life. Surely, death would be better than that.”
Julie is still hassled by groups who believe that Jeremy Bamber is innocent.
There is no doubt in Julie’s mind that the person responsible for the murders at the White House farm is Jeremy Bamber. In an interview in 2000, Julie said;
“I thought this was a long time in the past. As far as I’m concerned, nothing has changed. I sincerely believe that he is guilty. Do I keep my story? Yes absolutely.”
Others aren’t as convinced as Julie. They include Trudi Benjamin, founder of The JB Campaign Ltd, an organization set up to raise funds to campaign for Jeremy’s release.
“I know that Jeremy did not and could not have killed his family,” Trudi writes on the Campaign website. “Jeremy loved his family very much.”
Benjamin claims that Julie offered her testimony to avoid jail time for crimes she was suspected of and to get revenge for Jeremy’s infidelity. Julie and other family members who testified against Jeremy are constantly harassed by groups advocating for Jeremy’s release.
The murders occurred nearly four decades ago, but they apparently hang over Julie’s life forever. There seems to be an insatiable fascination with the White House Farm murders.
At the end of September 2021, the journalist Louis Theroux released a documentary titled The Bambers: Murder on the Farm in which he states that he is no longer sure that Jeremy is responsible for the murders.
“Because of the nature of the case, we are not in the realm of absolute certainty,” Louis says. His claims will galvanize activists for Bamber’s release.
It could also be to Julie’s detriment as, due to her involvement in the case, any light she sheds on him will darken her life.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn