I must say that for the moment the sightings of suitcase man really remind me of so-called 'Tannerman' ( a man spotted by a witness named Jane Tanner) in the Madeleine McCann Case. It's a cautionary tale!
In that case, a man was seen walking away from the car park of the property where Madeleine was staying, at roughly the same time that Madeleine was figured to have gone missing, carrying in his arms a young child in pink pyjamas who was of of Madeleine's age and size.
For several years after that sighting in May 2007, everyone discussed endlessly the mysterious Tannerman: who he could be and why, if he was innocent, he wasn't coming forward to eliminate myself. Identikits of the man were distributed around the world, and millions of pounds were spent by different police forces and private detective agencies working on the premise that he was a suspect.
At the end of 2013, Scotland Yard, who had recently taken over the case, announced that they had tracked down the man in question and ruled him out as a completely innocent passer-by. (The detailed description of the man and child given by the witness had enabled SY to match him with another innocent parent who was collecting his child from a night crèche nearby.)
None of the many enquiries and mammoth efforts made regarding this suspect had helped police gain more information in the case, or to narrow anything down - the whole thing was just a complete red herring and an enormous waste of time.
So, much as I find suitcase man's movements slightly odd, I am mindful of the fact that we can fixate on a person for want of more information and assume that because that's all we have, it must somehow fit in. Even in the McCann case where there was a great deal to suggest that the man was involved - the exact proximity to the crime scene, the timing, the fact that he was carrying a little girl ! - it turned out to be a complete coincidence.
The man definitely existed; he was not a figment of the imagination of the witness. In fact, Scotland Yard produced a photograph of the person they tracked down, and the physical characteristics of the man and the clothes he was wearing were an incredible match with the details the witness had given. Were it not for her details and accuracy, perhaps SY would not have been so sure in ruling the man out.
So so even when there is a lot more to go on than we have here - and the information we have on suitcase man is pretty scant - we have to exercise caution.
