Australia Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997 #3

[KiwiNZ]

You can not get married in the UK on a tourist Visa you need to apply for a Marriage Visitor visa which I am sure the police would have now looked into as she would have had to apply from Aus, 3 months before she travelled. Also marrying a UK or EU citizen does not automatically give you the right to live in UK /Europe, she would have still be subject to her 6 month tourist visa requirements.

 

[Loobyloo2]

I don't believe this woman had met Remakel. I think it's just someone who became interested in the case, as we are here and thought they might get further and get information by suggesting that Remakel was a friend they'd lost contact with

The worrying thing is that there is a lady almost by the same name Michele Barnett (Burnett) who is the wife of a drugs baron here in the UK if you look up the name.

 

[Loobyloo2]

I don't believe this woman had met Remakel. I think it's just someone who became interested in the case, as we are here and thought they might get further and get information by suggesting that Remakel was a friend they'd lost contact with

The worrying thing is that there is a lady almost by the same name Michele Barnett (Burnett was the lonely hearts surname) who was in the media as the wife of a drugs baron here in the UK if you look up the name.

 

[Sophie-Renee]

Well I think converastions on the last podcast is due out today, so we might get some idea about what links to take forward from the latest info. I really wish they would finally tell us what was found in the L.A library. Am intrigued! Have I missed something or have they still not told us, as that was almost a year ago now!

 

[Seriallyaddicted]

If Marion did get married overseas, came back alone to sort out the money and shipping container wouldnt the new husband have contacted the police that his wife was missing?
I think this means he came back to Australia with her and something nasty happened once the money was withdrawn.

Could be a few options:
He came back as you say and he killed her after he she gets the money out,
or he stayed over there and she wired the money to him and he takes it and then tells her on the phone she has been fooled and it’s over (maybe she kills herself)
Or she never got married and it was all in her head.

I’m going with he came back with her. If he did, surely the cops have a good chance of getting the name of who sat beside her on the flight and speaking to that person.

 

[Housemartyn]

Well I think converastions on the last podcast is due out today, so we might get some idea about what links to take forward from the latest info. I really wish they would finally tell us what was found in the L.A library. Am intrigued! Have I missed something or have they still not told us, as that was almost a year ago now!

I really get the feeling that there are quite a few bits of critical evidence that we are not being informed about. It's being drawn out tediously - and I am hoping that the inquest will throw some direction towards an answer. We have to be patient!

 

[KiwiNZ]

Its a real shame that Sally was not able to track down the travel agent her mum book with in the early days of her disappearance, had she been able to the name change would have been known a lot sooner, but also it is highly unlikely the agent would have booked a flight to the UK for her without a departing / onwards ticket from the UK within the terms of her tourist visa (6 months), even if the travel agent had the next hurdle is when you check in for your flight, they can refuse your ticket if you can not show an onwards travel booking, UK customs do spot checks for visa's if you are found not to have a onwards ticket the airline is fined heavily and is also responsible for covering your cost to be returned to the previous port so they tend not to let you board in the first place unless you purchase a flight there and then.

I don't think her flight back was part of the original ticket as it was a different airline and round tickets are much cheaper than using different airlines.

But it would have been interesting to know what her original flight plan was and my experience with travel agents is that they would have been forth coming with information in this situation had Sally of found them, also would have confirmed if someone les had booked tickets with her :-( .

she seemed to have enough knowledge that she could not afford to be caught at customs in the UK with her CV as it was against her visa (as she told sally) but didn't seem to know that you cant just move to a country because you choose to ?

My guess is she did have an onward flight to Luxemburg and that is why she left her luggage at Heathrow.

 

[LondonEloise91]

How do we know Hilary Knight is the dentist from TSS they interviewed in the podcast? surely that is super suspicious if he is the same man in that news article?

 

[Sophie-Renee]

Hmmm..I am not sure I have heard the interview. But what I do know is this doesn't look good...and I presume it is the same Hilary Knight!
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/na...ng-during-grindr-hook-up-20190816-p52hs2.html

 

[Sophie-Renee]

Sorry I only just realised that IS the news article you are referring to! Doh! Was the interview in the last podcast? I seem to have missed this .

 

[Housemartyn]

All that redacted stuff in the police files, stuff they couldn't tell Sally, that's all going to be uncovered at the inquest surely? The answer is already in that file. 30 September! That's a long time to wait. And hopefully it will be worth waiting for. I don't think her disappearance is as convoluted as some make it out to be.

 

[Meligator]

All that redacted stuff in the police files, stuff they couldn't tell Sally, that's all going to be uncovered at the inquest surely? The answer is already in that file. 30 September! That's a long time to wait. And hopefully it will be worth waiting for. I don't think her disappearance is as convoluted as some make it out to be.

I’m curious why there would be so much redacted. I understand they may redact names/identifying info of people they spoke (for their privacy perhaps), but given how much info is public now, and how quickly police concluded Marion went missing of her own volition—it’s just hard to imagine what other info they would have that warrants redactions (especially since they confirmed never speaking to Marion directly). The only thing I can think of would be the statement from the dentist who witnessed her signing the documents. Maybe the dentist gave police information about Marions plans/location. That info would likely be redacted in order to protect Marions privacy.

 

[Housemartyn]

I’m curious why there would be so much redacted. I understand they may redact names/identifying info of people they spoke (for their privacy perhaps), but given how much info is public now, and how quickly police concluded Marion went missing of her own volition—it’s just hard to imagine what other info they would have that warrants redactions (especially since they confirmed never speaking to Marion directly). The only thing I can think of would be the statement from the dentist who witnessed her signing the documents. Maybe the dentist gave police information about Marions plans/location. That info would likely be redacted in order to protect Marions privacy.

I'm very curious too. But over half the file contents are redacted and the police were extremely reluctant to give anything to the family. I am hoping they did have a reason for that. I remember how cagey the police were at the beginning of the podcast. They definitely had a very important piece of evidence that they couldn't give out. It's just as well the podcast has been able to push this to an inquest inquiry - because otherwise it seems the police would have just sat on any information they had received already.

 

[Loobyloo2]

Hmmm..I am not sure I have heard the interview. But what I do know is this doesn't look good...and I presume it is the same Hilary Knight!
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/na...ng-during-grindr-hook-up-20190816-p52hs2.html

I just asked the family via facebook and the dentist has already been looked into.

 

[Sophie-Renee]

Did Sally say Trendwest? I haven't heard of it, but seems to be a holidaying resort chain. Mostly located in USA though. I googlemapped it around the Gold Coast and nothing came up. I wonder if it no longer exists since the lady left in 2004. They probably couldn't give away too much, but I wonder what his job was or first name was or i the lady could even remember.

Sally mentioned there was no surgery apparently in Grafton Shopping World..there is a O Plus Health Medical clinic with the address of Grafton Shopping World. So I can only assume as it does not say on the site, it did not exist in 1997. The local lady said she had lived there all her life and no surgery existed there. So maybe this one did not exist in 1997..but certainly seem to exist now..so unless this is one police are referring to..? Maybe someone has more ideas on that one, or perhaps the address google has for it is a bit off, or the lady unaware of it?

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

My own take on it is that when Sally and her husband bumped into Marion and unknown male friend in the drive-thru that events then speeded up. If the perpetrator had been working on Marion for sometime his crime was likely to get exposed after being seen. Conmen will use all types of manipulative behaviour to get their victim to do anything. Just tell them their life (or family) is in danger, criminal underworld or Government secret agencies are after them, etc, etc. There are so many cases of this happening. Sadly I think Marion would have fallen for it in a time when it wasn’t as well publicised.

 

[KiwiNZ]

Did Sally say Trendwest? I haven't heard of it, but seems to be a holidaying resort chain. Mostly located in USA though. I googlemapped it around the Gold Coast and nothing came up. I wonder if it no longer exists since the lady left in 2004. They probably couldn't give away too much, but I wonder what his job was or first name was or i the lady could even remember.


Trendwest now WorldMark, they sell timeshare I am wondering if the person worked as a timeshare rep, which in the late 90’s was pretty prolific on the Gold Coast, hugly annoying people trying to lure you in to sign up with their hard sell pitch while you just trying to enjoy your holiday.

 

[KiwiNZ]

Delted

 

[KiwiNZ]

Trendwest now WorldMark, they sell timeshare I am wondering if the person worked as a timeshare rep, which in the late 90’s was pretty prolific on the Gold Coast, hugly annoying people trying to lure you in to sign up with their hard sell pitch while you just trying to enjoy your holiday.

Trendwest South Pacific Pty Ltd - C J I House, 130 Bundall Rd, Bundall QLD 4217
Home of arts gold coast - 135 Blundall Road, Bundall

 

[Meligator]

My own take on it is that when Sally and her husband bumped into Marion and unknown male friend in the drive-thru that events then speeded up. If the perpetrator had been working on Marion for sometime his crime was likely to get exposed after being seen. Conmen will use all types of manipulative behaviour to get their victim to do anything. Just tell them their life (or family) is in danger, criminal underworld or Government secret agencies are after them, etc, etc. There are so many cases of this happening. Sadly I think Marion would have fallen for it in a time when it wasn’t as well publicised.

Its also possible, if not more likely, that Marion was hiding Sally from the man (vs hiding the man from Sally). Marion could have easily said, “Sal this is my friend so and so,” and Sal probably wouldn’t have given the encounter a second thought. Sal knew her mom had friends (male & female). On the other hand, Marion would have had to introduce Sally as her daughter—which is suspect was what she wanted to avoid.