IN SEARCH OF THE RAINBOW'S END by COLIN CAFFELL

IN SEARCH OF THE RAINBOW'S END

BY COLIN CAFFELL

THE BLURB:-

IN 1985, THE SHOCKING MURDER OF A FAMILY OF FIVE IN A QUIET COUNTRY HOUSE IN ESSEX ROCKED THE NATION.

The victims were Nevill and June Bamber; their adopted daughter Sheila Caffell, divorced from her husband Colin; and Sheila and Colin's twin sons, Nicholas and Daniel. Only one survivor remained: the Bamber's other adopted child, Jeremy Bamber. Following his lead, the police - and later the press - blamed the murders on Sheila, who, so the story went, then committed suicide.

Written by Sheila's ex-husband Colin and originally published in 1994, In Search of the Rainbow's End is the first and only book about the White House Farm murders to have been written by a family member. It is the inside story of two families into whose midst the most monstrous events erupted. When Jeremy Bamber is later convicted on all five counts of murder, Colin is left to pick up the pieces of his life after not only burying his ex-wife, two children and parents-in-law, but also having to cope with memories of Sheila almost shattered by a predatory press hungry for stories of sex, drugs and the high life.

Colin's tale is not just a rare insider's picture of murder, but testimony to the strength and resilience of one man in search of healing after trauma: he describes his process of recovery, a process that led to his working in prisons, helping to rehabilitate, among others, convicted murderers.

By turns emotive, terrifying, and inspiring, Colin Caffell's account of mass murder and its aftermath will not fail to move and astonish the reader.

THE REALITY:-

After watching the ITV drama White House Farm, which depicted the events of this real-life case, I bought this book. I was already familiar with the case. I had just turned fourteen when it happened, and I remember reading the newspaper headlines the next day. BAMBI KILLER! the story shouted from the page as, initially, it looked like Sheila Caffell (nee Bamber) had murdered her family before turning the gun on herself (incidentally, we find out in the book that the nickname 'Bambi'- no doubt inspired by the Disney movies and the play on words involving the killing of the mule deer- was one placed upon her, and rarely used by herself. Her friends knew her as 'Bambs'.)

At the time, my first reaction was, 'Why don't they interview that brother? He did it!' I was, of course, referring to Jeremy Bamber, who currently sits in prison (where he belongs- we can all sleep safely in our beds now) serving a full-life sentence. His arrest, six weeks later came as no shock to me.

My motivation for reading this work is that I'm researching the therapeutic potential of creative writing for my current MA project, so I was interested to find out how Colin Caffell dealt with his grief. Aside from seeing some very interesting practitioners (including psychics, dream analysts and someone who deciphered what Nicholas and Daniel Caffell's seemingly prophetic drawings leading up to their murders were all about,) sculptor Colin also used art as a way of soothing his soul, and took part in a workshop programme which he then trained in and rolled out himself; dealing with victims of trauma and, eventually, those who had caused trauma, such as murderers in a prison setting.

I learnt a lot from this work- for both my personal and professional development- and my heart goes out to this man. I'm never going to be accused of being the softest human being (like Sheila, I had issues with my mother and brother, and I'm glad her family life is depicted honestly here, and not as something that's all tickety-boo) but even I struggle with understanding someone who can fire bullets into the heads of six-year-old boys.  I also sympathised with the trouble Colin Caffell had to put up with with the press harassing him, and twisting stories around in a bid to increase sales with their daily scandal-mongering.

The next time I'm in Highgate Cemetery, where these blonde little angels rest, I will try to locate their grave (they were buried in the same coffin, which included Sheila's ashes) and say hi.😢  An unsettling, but essential read.