Australia Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, June 1997 #10

[LEO123]

We know Marion’s outgoing passenger card states Korea, but are we sure it was just a stopover with or without changing planes, or actually staying in Korea for a few days and then flying to Japan, before continuing on to London. I’m not sure why I’m stuck on Korea.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

I agree MB would not have placed an ad. RB has a habit of twisting things around: GGB thought she must've been drugged - RB said she must've been on drugs. He said only ever placed one ad - that was not replied to - conversely it was MB seeking him out. The questioning on this may be because there's a need to know if he placed more ads. That's what needs to be found.

Agree the Switzerland tryst didn't happen - at least with MB - it was someone else in the past, but like the ads was designed to show that they, not him, make the first move.
Styling himself as the hunted, not the hunter. IMO.

And I don't think MB met him via an ad, she met him where she said she'd met him - through the Arts centre.

I agree with all of that. Isn’t also funny how he gets hung up on that little bag of his and the fact you can’t fit 3 initials on it. Just how small was this bag or how big the letters on it?!! Bizarre.

 

[Roseberry]

I agree with all of that. Isn’t also funny how he gets hung up on that little bag of his and the fact you can’t fit 3 initials on it. Just how small was this bag or how big the letters on it?!! Bizarre.

Suggest it's because of the RLW bag in JO's testimony where he placed her documents. Denies owning a bag with 3 initials - his only fits 2.

 

[Nnbee]

I definitely think the story RB gave of him meeting MB in Switzerland is made up. Wouldn’t this be easily squashed with checking her old passport to see if the dates she went aligned ?

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

I definitely think the story RB gave of him meeting MB in Switzerland is made up. Wouldn’t this be easily squashed with checking her old passport to see if the dates she went aligned ?

Or just ask Johnny Warren’s family

 

[ruby925]

I just listened again to some of JO’s testimony on 4 Feb.

They went to Bali and did nothing touristy. However they took a cab to a slum area then back to their hotel.

When they got to Amsterdam, RB supplied JO with a bag for some of her clothes. It’s a little unclear, but I think this was a bag for her summer clothes. She mentions just one outfit and a pair of shoes - hardly worth storing as there would have been no weight to them.

It couldn’t have been this bag she used to go to the UK, because I checked the Amsterdam temperatures for December 1999, and they range between 0°C and 10°C.
Amsterdam Fall 1999 Historical Weather Data (Netherlands) - Weather Spark

In Britain at the same time the temperature was around 2°C.

London, United Kingdom Weather History | Weather Underground

There is no way she would have left her warm clothes behind in those kinds of temperatures.

So a token amount of women’s clothes were left in a locker in Amsterdam in a bag RB supplied after they had flown in from Bali.

It makes me wonder if summer clothes were the only thing removed from JO’s bag and placed into another bag belonging to RB after they cleared customs. And why did RB, who liked to travel light, happen to have an extra bag? And is there some reason why it might have been important for that bag of RB’s to look like it belonged to JO should any questions be raised about it?

And then, of course, as we know, after depositing JO and her winter clothes in the UK, he scurried back to Amsterdam. Did he find he had a particular use for a bag containing JO’s summer clothes and whatever other souvenirs from Bali the bag might contain?

It does make you wonder.

So separate flights (mostly), use of left baggage facilities at airports with female belongings, Amsterdam a common theme (although it is a major European hub obvs), the recurrent story of new life in Europe etc as a cover story...maybe fanciful but this does all smack of smuggling, whether it is diamonds, gold, drugs or something else. Maybe courier rather than mastermind, with someone else paying the air fares etc. all MOO

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

So separate flights (mostly), use of left baggage facilities at airports with female belongings, Amsterdam a common theme (although it is a major European hub obvs), the recurrent story of new life in Europe etc as a cover story...maybe fanciful but this does all smack of smuggling, whether it is diamonds, gold, drugs or something else. Maybe courier rather than mastermind, with someone else paying the air fares etc. all MOO

I used to wonder if smuggling was involved but after watching him in the witness box he strikes me as a loner and womaniser obsessed with the pennies as he wanders round Boot fairs looking for coins at $2 a time.

 

[ChrysStevenson]

So separate flights (mostly), use of left baggage facilities at airports with female belongings, Amsterdam a common theme (although it is a major European hub obvs), the recurrent story of new life in Europe etc as a cover story...maybe fanciful but this does all smack of smuggling, whether it is diamonds, gold, drugs or something else. Maybe courier rather than mastermind, with someone else paying the air fares etc. all MOO

Entirely hypothetically, if you were sending goods with a mule from Australia, there would be no need to travel with them. But if the goods were in, say, Bali, you would need to travel with the mule.

If there was a problem, you could always deny you were travelling together, and point to the fact you had different kinds of tickets - yours return, and the mule’s one-way. MOO

 

[centred]

Power of attorney

Imo these can be easily faked for a period and if necessary to use for certain purposes .

 

[Eyespywithmylittleeye]

Yes I doubt it is true too but though it could be worthwhile searching just in case.

True, as he does like to use some elements of truth in his stories.. maybe he took the ad out lol

 

[ruby925]

I used to wonder if smuggling was involved but after watching him in the witness box he strikes me as a loner and womaniser obsessed with the pennies as he wanders round Boot fairs looking for coins at $2 a time.

I am just listening to the latest podcast and am now veering away from the smuggling theory. The one way air fare for JO and return for RB, leaving her stranded in UK etc when he has power of attorney does suggest a scam all about the money/assets.

 

[Nnbee]

After listening to today’s podcast, and there being no apology to the real Fernand Remakel, I can only wonder if that means they think he is involved still? They have access to more information? Or have they just moved on? Or can’t say until end of inquest?

Also, what did they have to omit in the podcast? Towards the start where she said they would explain after inquest?

 

[Pineconemind]

Just a thought...Do we know for sure that the luggage was in a locker (with key). The reason I say that and I can't be absolutely sure about Heathrow at this time) was sometimes left luggage was a counter and you checked your luggage in and were given a ticketed number (receipt). Theoretically anyone with the numbered ticket retrieve the luggage.

Yes, was it a lock system or a ticket system? I'm also wondering what the time frame was for leaving luggage, I know in the 00's and presently many airports only allow you to leave luggage for anywhere from 3 - 7 days. I know even train station luggage hold is time limited. I wonder what it was like back in the 90's?

 

[ChrysStevenson]

I am just listening to the latest podcast and am now veering away from the smuggling theory. The one way air fare for JO and return for RB, leaving her stranded in UK etc when he has power of attorney does suggest a scam all about the money/assets.

My hypothesis is that it was both. The romance scams were a sideline.

 

[Pineconemind]

After listening to today’s podcast, and there being no apology to the real Fernand Remakel, I can only wonder if that means they think he is involved still? They have access to more information? Or have they just moved on? Or can’t say until end of inquest?

Also, what did they have to omit in the podcast? Towards the start where she said they would explain after inquest?

I have this funny gut feeling that there is more to this in re of the real FNR and MC, but that is MOO.

 

[ruby925]

Yes, was it a lock system or a ticket system? I'm also wondering what the time frame was for leaving luggage, I know in the 00's and presently many airports only allow you to leave luggage for anywhere from 3 - 7 days. I know even train station luggage hold is time limited. I wonder what it was like back in the 90's?

At LHR, very unlikely there were lockers, unattended bags of any kind were deemed a security risk, there may have been a counter facility. I remember at LGW there were no left luggage facilities of any kind for quite a long time, and when one opened, it was a manned counter, where I would presume you have to show ID, pay with credit card etc.

 

[Pineconemind]

Just a thought...Do we know for sure that the luggage was in a locker (with key). The reason I say that and I can't be absolutely sure about Heathrow at this time) was sometimes left luggage was a counter and you checked your luggage in and were given a ticketed number (receipt). Theoretically anyone with the numbered ticket retrieve the luggage.

Just had a little read on the Schipol Wesbite re: Luggage Storage, of course this is current information but interesting to read about the different options.

Temporarily store your baggage at Baggage Storage or in a locker

 

[Pineconemind]

At LHR, very unlikely there were lockers, unattended bags of any kind were deemed a security risk, there may have been a counter facility. I remember at LGW there were no left luggage facilities of any kind for quite a long time, and when one opened, it was a manned counter, where I would presume you have to show ID, pay with credit card etc.

Yes that what I was thinking too, especially at that time 1997, I would think it would have been a counter.

 

[KeenSleuth17]

After listening to today’s podcast, and there being no apology to the real Fernand Remakel, I can only wonder if that means they think he is involved still? They have access to more information? Or have they just moved on? Or can’t say until end of inquest?

Also, what did they have to omit in the podcast? Towards the start where she said they would explain after inquest?

I think they’ve gone out and talked to JO again for some clarification around the belly dancing. And she’s responded, “BELLY DANCING?!?! ME?! BELLY DANCING?!?!” And proceeded to spit her lady grey tea out and laugh hysterically.

The other part they had to cut out later on was also about JO’s testimony so that’s why I think they’ve sought clarification but can’t reveal that because maybe AC wants to bring it back up with him again, they’ve got a new statement from her to disprove his testimony, or something along those lines. And they are also conscious he is listening to the podcast so don’t want to give him any other stories to weave over the next couple of months before he has to shuffle up the court steps again with his wheelie walker.

 

[poppypopcorn]

Southend, Stansted, Luton, Heathrow & Gatwick in that order

Agreed. But back in the 90s, Stansted and Luton weren't the big airports they are today. EasyJet didn't start flying out of Luton in any big way until about 1999, and RyanAir was at Stansted but not operating many flights. Luton at that time was primarily a charter holiday flight airport. There were definitely no long-haul flights coming into Stansted or Luton.

I get what the previous poster meant that Marion may not have known there was more than 1 airport in London but she had travelled to the UK before in the 60s and probably through Heathrow. JAL operated through Terminal 3 in Heathrow in the 90s (definitely, I flew with them to Japan in 1999 from there) and BA operated longhaul through Terminal 4. Most other airlines flying to Aus or the Far East like Cathay Pacific, Garuda, Quantas used Heathrow.

It is a bit odd that if Mr AKA was travelling from south of London (Tunbridge Wells, Burwash) to Belgium or France thar he went north through London and Essex, on to Harwich in Suffolk then a ferry to Hook of Holland/Rotterdam and on from there to Amsterdam/Belgium, rather than taking the MUCH more simple journey down to Dover, over to Calais and north through Belgium.

But not much he does makes sense.