As always, I hope Sally finds out what happened to her mum, one way or another all those years ago. I fully support Sally, while being very unsupportive of some of the tactics of the podcast team.
As far as why the police don't investigate different matters, or if they do and we don't know about it, I think it comes down to the basics of police practice and what the legal obligations of the police are. Looking at the laws in NSW, and trolling through the podcast for the actual facts, for me it comes down to this. Sally enters Byron Bay police station in October 1997 and reports her mother missing. It is listed as an occurrence, which we now know is standard practice.
We don't know who in the police did what, but we do know, from Sally's account, that she got a phone call within a week to say that her mother had been located and did not want contact. (Episode 4, 4:55) Sally asked for more information, but the officer told Sally he couldn't give her any more information as her mother hand indicated that she didn't want to be found. Jack Wilson, Marion's father, was not happy with this outcome, and in 1998 approached the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service. Jack's notes indicate that he asked the police what identification had been made, and that he was told that the bank security had contacted her on the phone, and that she had said she didn't want her whereabouts known (Ep 4 7:14). They said that the bank security were like police, and that if I wanted to probe further, I should hire a private detective and start in Byron Bay. The Salvation Army indicated to Jack in a letter that she had been
identified withdrawing money at a different bank, and spoke of starting a new life. (ep4 8:16) Jack receives a letter dated 18/3/98, stating that the salvos officer had been speaking at length to the NSW MPU, who in turn contacted the security officer at the Colonial State Bank at Ashmore, at Southport, and after lengthy conversations were able to advice that it was definitely your daughter Marion who went in and withdrew the balance of the account at Ashmore on the 15th October 1990 (assumed typ0) and talked of starting a new life. Diedre recalls the fact that Marion had said that she was angry with Sally that she hadn't put money in the account for the car.
From the NSW Police handbook:
Locating missing people Officer locating missing person A MP must only be ‘located’ when he / she has been sighted by a person in authority (eg: Police Officer, Customs Officer, Family and Community Services, Department of Immigration Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Department of Corrective Services, treating Doctor, Mental Health Practitioner, School Principal). If in doubt Seek advice from the MPU. The locating officer should sight the MP and check that the MP is safe and well and provide any assistance where necessary. After locating a MP, update COPS by creating a new incident as ‘Missing Now Located Person’ in the original event, remove any MP warning, do not create a new event, add new narrative that outlines when, where and by whom located and sighted, and details of advice to NOK or person reporting….Where the MP is an adult or above the age of 16 years, notify the person who lodged the MP report that the person has been located. If, however, the located person does not wish their whereabouts to be disclosed, and/or the matter has been referred to the Family and Community Services (FACS) (under 18ys), do not disclose their whereabouts.
https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/631004/nsw_police_force_handbook.pdf
In conversations 3, Sally confirms that Garry told her that Marion had used her medicare card in Grafton. The medical files from Grafton could contain information, from a treating doctor, as to her identity. That would be absolutely off the table for our knowledge, and not available to Sally. A police officer has confirmed to me that a bank employee using proper protocol to identify a bank customer while withdrawing a large sum of money would be considered to be a person in authority. These are two very viable ways that Marion could have been sighted, identified and listed as located following full procedure, without a member of the New South Wales police force having sighted her. The police have to follow due process- she had been identified by someone considered to be a person in authority, (who it sounds like had her phone number to follow up and ask further questions of) so MUST be registered as located. If she indicated that she wanted no further contact, that is her legal right. Hurtful as it must be to all the many families who are enduring the pain of missing a person who decided to walk away.
When Sally returned to police after 10 years, the file was missing- but the podcast has shared with us that this would be to be expected- Virginia Evans, a sworn NSW police office in 1997, told us that a missing persons file marked located would in 1997 have been paper based, and destroyed after 6 years. So in 2007 it would have been destroyed four years prior. There are still some statements from Graham Childs though- so I assume they came from his notebook, which would not have been destroyed.
So, following procedure- police investigate, find no evidence of foul play, find a person in authority who can meet police process (sighted and identified withdrawing money, further details in follow up phone call) to identify her, therefore mark her as located, and let her daughter, as the person who made the report, know. No further information can be shared as per Marion's request. To go to England, or Luxembourg, to track down the movements of a person legally deemed not to be missing, would be a breach of Marion's civil rights and privacy. If this happened, and Marion's location was revealed to a third party, that police officer could be facing some stiff disciplinary action. There is nothing stopping Sally searching for her- indeed, the police suggested Jack Wilson to hire a private detective and start in Byron Bay (which to me reads- wish I could tell you more, a private detective could, and here is a tip). Garry Sheehan reinvestigates a decade later, also comes to the conclusion that she met the criteria for being marked located (note- he had also found the medicare information, so had the doctors information- a doctor being a person in authority).
Now that the case is being reviewed, and Marion is back on the missing persons register, many of the investigations that people would like to see happen probably will. Garry Sheehan, and Graham Childs before him, did their jobs, followed the evidence and made their determinations following the law. I know the podcast keeps going on about how they haven't done enough, but with investigative journalists on their team they should be able to read the Crimes Act, the NSW police handbook and the NSW Police Missing persons standard operations guide, and actually tell the truth about what the police have done, can do and cant do.
