In the Dark Releases "Blood Relatives," an Examination of a Notorious British Crime

"On an August night in 1985, five members of one family were shot dead at Whitehouse Farm, a country manor in the rural county of Essex, in southeastern England. The police were alerted by Jeremy Bamber, the twenty-four-year-old scion of a local farming dynasty, whose parents, June and Nevill, occupied the estate. Inside the locked house, officers found the bodies of Jeremy's parents, sister, and six-year-old twin nephews."

"The killings initially appeared to be an open-and-shut case of murder-suicide, at the hands of Jeremy's sister, Sheila. Then, after a series of shocking twists, suspicions turned on Jeremy-and he was sentenced to life in prison the following year. The crime became the most infamous family massacre in British history, and to this day Jeremy Bamber remains one of the country's most reviled convicts."

"But, nearly four decades later, the New Yorker staff writer Heidi Blake got a tip that all might not be as it seemed. On October 28th, In the Dark, The New Yorker's investigative podcast, will release "Blood Relatives," a six-part series that examines the murders at Whitehouse Farm. The series takes a comprehensive look at the case, airing evidence that was never shared with the jury and conversations with sources whose recollections upend prosecutors' theory of the crime."

Five members of a family were shot dead at Whitehouse Farm in Essex in August 1985; police were alerted by Jeremy Bamber and found the locked-house victims, including his parents, sister, and twin nephews. Initial investigators considered the killings a murder-suicide by Jeremy's sister Sheila, but subsequent developments led to Jeremy's arrest and a life sentence, making the case a notorious family massacre in Britain. Decades later, new reporting for a six-part podcast, Blood Relatives, presents evidence not shown to the jury and interviews with sources whose recollections contradict the prosecution's theory, prompting questions about the conviction and the legal system. The podcast will release episodes starting October 28th with subscriber and platform distribution details.

Read at The New Yorker