Heidi Blake

They'd been told to expect this in March of this year, but March came and went with no hint of a decision.

Jeremy told me the suspense was almost unbearable.

It's a huge moment, isn't it?

I can't imagine how frustrating it must be not quite knowing when you're going to find out.

The CCRC deliberates behind closed doors, so there was no way to glean how their review of the evidence was going.

But by now, there had been a notable shift in public attitudes to this famous case.

In the months since the article, even some of the tabloids were starting to throw their weight behind Jeremy Bamber.

My findings had been covered by nearly every national paper in Britain.

And they were splashed over multi-page spreads in the Colchester Gazette, the local paper where David Woods once covered the case as chief reporter.

He'd been so sure of Jeremy's guilt.

But now even he was reconsidering.

He said what had really clinched it for him was Nick Milbank's story about the 999 call.

Jeremy had now been told that a panel of commissioners from the CCRC would meet in mid-April and decide whether to refer his case for a fresh appeal.

But that date came and went.

Still no news.

In mid-May, Jeremy called me to say the CCRC had told him its decision was coming by the end of the month.

Jeremy was expecting the CCRC's written decision to be devastating for the prosecution case against him.

He even thought he might get out of prison right away on the strength of it.

But then, at this pivotal moment, the leadership of the CCRC, this powerful organisation that held his fate in its hands, was totally engulfed in a huge public scandal.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission has issued an unreserved apology.