A RELATIVE of mass murderer Jeremy Bamber says he is evil and should never be free after a European Court of Human Rights ruling on Tuesday which could pave the way for his release.
Judges in Strasbourg ruled 16 to one that every prisoner had to have the possibility of release and that the whole-life tariff given to the murderer is in breach of his human rights.
Judges said that this does not mean that there was any 'prospect of imminent release.'
Bamber's cousin David Boutflour, 53, said: "At the end of the trial Justice Drake said, and I agree, that he is 'evil beyond belief' and he should never be released into the public domain. I have no reason to believe that he has changed.
"The memory of the people he killed remains dear to me and I want them to be remembered in the right way. My mother is 92, she shouldn't have had to go through all of this."
Bamber has spent almost 28 years behind bars after being convicted of killing his adopted parents June and Nevill, sister Sheila Cafell and her two sons Daniel and Nicholas at their family home, White House Farm, in Tolleshunt D'Arcy in 1985.
Mr Boutflour added: "I'm upset, all we want is some peace, we have to keep going over the issue again and again, it's like a bad dream. We can never just leave it be, we can never seem to let it go.
"I would be gutted if he left his prison cell. Who is to say that when he is released he won't do the same thing again? Who will keep the public safe from this man?" said Mr Boutflour, a farmer from Manningtree.
Bamber took his case to the European Court of Human Rights along with murderers Douglas Vinter from Middlesbrough, who admitted killing his wife Anne in 2008, and Peter Moore, who killed four men in North Wales in 1995.
The ruling means 49 killers serving whole-life tariffs have been given the hope of freedom, including Marc Chivers who killed Maria Stubbings in Chelmsford in 2008; serial killer Peter Tobin who murdered Chelmsford schoolgirl Dinah McNicol in 1991 and buried her in his garden; and Stephen Farrow who stabbed former Witham vicar John Suddards to death last year.
Others on whole-life tariffs include Peter Sutcliffe, Rose West and Ian Brady.
On the decision made Tuesday morning Mr Boutflour said: "I know there is a place for human rights in society and I feel that he gave away his human rights when he killed those five people, I don't feel he has any human rights left. How about the people he has hurt as a result of his actions?
"I do believe that some criminals do not deserve a life sentence, but in this instance Bamber has not repented in any way. What about the human rights of the five people he murdered?
"He should stay in prison unless he is proven innocent or he has served the time suggested by the judge."
Mr Boutflour, who has two sons John, and Caroline, remains confident that this decision will not lead to Bamber's release.
He said: "I'm sure the judges in this country will find a way of keeping him in jail.
"He took the lives of two small children, his mother, his father and his sister; if the legal system lets him out then they have failed the public terribly."
Bamber has always protested his innocence saying that his sister Sheila, a schizophrenic, had gone berserk with a gun. He has failed in several costly appeals to have his conviction overturned.
On his website, Bamber said the verdict was 'hollow, as I am still serving a prison sentence for a crime I did not commit.'
Mr Boutflour found a silencer in a cupboard at the farm three days after the murders, apparently with Caffell's blood on it.
It was key to the prosecution's case in the Chelmsford Crown Court trial that the drop of Caffell's blood on the silencer meant she could not have shot herself then placed it in a cupboard downstairs. The gun with a silencer attached would have been too long for her to turn on herself anyway.
Since then Bamber has attempted to discredit Mr Boutflour, describing him on his website as a 'beneficiary' to the murders.
Essex Euro MP and spokesperson on human rights in the European Parliament, Richard Howitt MEP, said: Although I don't have a problem about the right to have a sentence reviewed, this judgement does not and must not mean a right to be released.
"Jeremy Bamber still denies responsibility for the mass murder for which he was convicted. His lack of remorse by his own admission means there is no parole board who would release this man, nor should they.
"There must be cases where life means life and this is surely one such case."
Conservative MP Priti Patel, whose Witham constituency includes the farm where Bamber massacred his family, added: "This judgment is a victory for evil and those responsible for some of the most vile and heinous crimes.
"Life should mean life and it is a disgrace that Europe can overrule the decisions made by courts in this country."
