CAMPAIGNERS pushing for the release of a convicted murderer who has relentlessly protested his innocence claim they have uncovered “direct evidence” he was not the killer.

Jeremy Bamber has spent more than half his life in prison after he was convicted of murdering five members of his family in 1986.

His parents Nevill and June, his sister Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons, Nicholas and Daniel, were found shot dead at White House Farm, in Tolleshunt D’Arcy.

Now, approaching 32 years since the night of the murders, the Jeremy Bamber Campaign says it has uncovered fresh proof of his innocence.

The group of supporters contend Bamber’s sister Sheila, who suffered from schizophrenia, carried out the murders before turning the gun on herself.

They claim there is evidence she was still alive and inside the house when officers surrounded the building.

The campaigners say a recently uncovered document reveals a 999 call was made from inside the farmhouse at 6.09am, while Bamber was outside with police officers.

A spokesman said: “It is our contention that the mentally ill Sheila, in a psychotic state, was alive inside the house after killing the family and she made the call out. The police didn’t raid until 7.38am.

“There’s other evidence to support this including lights going on and off and police firearms officers recording the curtains opening and closing while they surrounded the house and observed it.”

The document is a police action from the 2002 Stokenchurch Inquiry, which was an investigation by the Metropolitan police for the Court of Appeal in advance of Bamber’s second failed appeal against his conviction.

The document refers to a PC Millbank “monitoring a 999 call made from White House Farm at 6.09am on the morning of the murders”.

The campaign spokesman added: “It is not known who made this 999 call but it is probable it was made by Sheila as she had already been ‘in conversation’ with firearms officers at 5.25am, as is recorded on police documentation.

“Were the police advised during this 999 call that there had been casualties?

“It seems to be highly probable because by 6.26am two ambulances had been arranged to attend the scene.

“No statement was made pre-trial by PC Millbank, nor was he asked to give evidence in court about what he heard while he monitored the 999 call made from within the farm.”

In the judgement handed down by the Court of Appeal in 2002, Lord Justice Kay said: “We have found no evidence of anything that occurred which might unfairly have affected the fairness of the trial.

“The jury’s verdicts were, in our judgment, ones that they were plainly entitled to reach on the evidence.”

Two crowdfunding appeals to raise money for examination into evidence have raised £12,000.

A third appeal, called Forensics 360, has now been launched with a target of £6,000 to review all material evidence used in Bamber’s trial.