Australia Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997 #4

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And now we have the new postcard sent to Marion’s sister apparently dated after Marion was supposed to have returned to Australia. Why wait until now?

Also an apparent mention of a dentist & Mazz on the postcard? What is Mazz short for? Not an elderly name? Was part of the scam to have Marion befriended by a woman when arriving in the UK?
 
If you go to the 14 July 1997 you will find a photograph of The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells taken on that very day. I’ll let you make your own judgement. From her postcard description and knowing the area well I believe Marion was staying at The Swan Hotel a few yards from where this photo was taken.

https://vanvrouwerff.nl/over/engeland/engeland-1997-zomer/
 
:eek: Elaborating on what Lord Peter said...

From the Lady Vanishes facebook/twitter accounts:

Inquest Day 6

Sally will continue to give evidence when the inquest resumes on Wednesday.

We also heard from Lisa Telford from the Australian Border Force about the procedures in place for people coming in and out of the country so there could be some idea of how likely it was Marion who came back.

And a postcard emerges from Marion’s sister Deirdre, dated after Marion’s passport returned to Australia on 2 August, 1997, and posted from the UK which references her meeting a dentist and a lady named Mazz.
 
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Before anyone gets too upset at Deirdre... we DID know about the postcard. The podcast clearly mentioned some arrived after Marion supposedly returned on the 2 August. But this is the first we're hearing about what was written on them... which is bonkers. A dentist and a lady named Mazz o_O Did Marion ever return to Australia?
 
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Peralta said:
Before anyone gets too upset at Deirdre... we DID know about the postcard. The podcast clearly mentioned some arrived after Marion supposedly returned on the 2 August. But this is the first we're hearing about what was written in them... which is bonkers. A dentist and a lady named Mazz o_O Did Marion ever return to Australia?
Click to expand...

Just my personal view I don’t think she did. I believe an imposter made the return journey.
 
I'm starting to come around to that theory too!

Estelle, I remember this has been your long held belief!

I don't know if I see Marion, but it is a good find. And a charming town! We don't get such history, architecture or quaintness in Australia.

Lord Peter Flimsy said:
Just my personal view I don’t think she did. I believe an imposter made the return journey.
Click to expand...
 
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I agree. There are lots of similar versions of crazy scams. Marion seemed particularly worried about Luke Glover. I wonder if a scam artist convinced her she was in significant trouble related to Luke Glover’s accusations about stealing or inappropriate behavior with students (i.e., magnifying a real life stressor into something seemingly more sinister or dangerous).


Peralta said:
Q: If Marion was with a conman, what bonkers story did he tell Marion on why he needed to remain a secret? Many conman stories I've seen online use the same tactic...

Things like... I'm a Secret Agent and can't be seen because I did the right thing and revealed some bad internal Agency behaviour and now there's a bounty on my head. Or, I had to report my former business partner for fraud and now he's mad and trying to kill me.

It's also why they tell their victims they need to leave the country immediately and why they might have multiple IDs.

It sounds insane to us, but there's always a sob story about how they (the conman) is a victim, and they go to great lengths to try to 'prove' it's real.

Sometimes the conman convinces their victim that they are in grave danger and need to leave. It's possible Marion was made to believe TSS was coming after her.

Mark Acklom is an example of a conman claiming he was a British spy. Thierry Tilly is a conman that made an aristocratic French family hide for years because he convinced them bad people were trying to kill them.
Click to expand...
 
That's one of my theories. I think she became terrified.
And I think it was something she would have not wanted to talk about. I think someone, made her so frightened she left without telling anyone the real reason. I think a romance scam was part of it.

I wonder if the theft of her wallet by a "woman who looked "uncannily" like Marion" may have started the whole thing.
I don't believe she would never have wanted to see her family again. I think later she would have shared her good news about meeting a gentleman from Europe and marrying him. She would say it was a whirlwind romance and that she had married him and was now living in his country.
I don't believe she would have ever missed her son's funeral. I believe she was murdered quite quickly and it was the woman who looked like her that came back and helped herself to Marion's money.


Meligator said:
I agree. There are lots of similar versions of crazy scams. Marion seemed particularly worried about Luke Glover. I wonder if a scam artist convinced her she was in significant trouble related to Luke Glover’s accusations about stealing or inappropriate behavior with students (i.e., magnifying a real life stressor into something seemingly more sinister or dangerous).
Click to expand...
 
Maybe the dentist and Mazz were Marion's "bridal party" or just two strangers she asked to be witnesses for her "wedding"

I imagine Marion bought new clothes for her trip. I wonder if one was to be her wedding outfit.
I wonder if she bought new clothes here or when she got to the UK.
 
Peralta said:
I'm starting to come around to that theory too!

Estelle, I remember this has been your long held belief!

I don't know if I see Marion, but it is a good find. And a charming town! We don't get such history, architecture or quaintness in Australia.
Click to expand...

So you remember that this has been always what I thought, Peralta. I posted such before I read your post! I travel a lot and being a divorcee myself, I can relate to Marion.
 
What about Missing Persons in the UK? Maybe they have an unrecognised body or there is a Florabella there. But as her passport was probably stolen from her, I suspect Marion was murdered in 1997. I have never been convinced that she ever came back here. IMO everyone wanted to believe that she did for some reason.

This was a scam from the beginning and another woman posed as Marion using Florabella's passport to come back here, withdraw the money and ship or sell the antiques.
 
I don't think everybody knew or knows what happened to Marion.

We're all just guessing really, as new things come to light.
I for one, still go from one idea to the other. Any of them is still a possibilty.

It may very well have been Marion who came back. It is more likely than an imposter pretending to be her.

We just don't know. I wonder if we'll ever know for sure.
 
After doing some searching now, I find that it can be short for more than just Marilyn. So far I've found, Mary, Marion, Marianne, and yes Marilyn. There were others as well. One was just Maz, not short for anything. Maybe short for Magda ?

Maybe not Magda. What they all have in common is they all start with Mar, but it's more the ones that sound like the word marry. Though Mary is the odd one out there.


Estelle said:
Mazz is short for "Marilyn".
Click to expand...
 
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