Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #18

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Files released by the National Archives of Australia show immigration officials in Canberra went into bat for Blum, telling Sydney colleagues the “applicant’s father dying and he wishes to depart for o/seas soonest”.

Urgent police and ASIO clearances were obtained by phone on March 23 that year, his application approved on March 24, and citizenship granted at a Sydney ceremony on March 25. Bureaucrats have never been more efficient.
Wow. Friends in high places, huh?

Thank you for sharing these, Tootsie!
 
Files released by the National Archives of Australia show immigration officials in Canberra went into bat for Blum, telling Sydney colleagues the “applicant’s father dying and he wishes to depart for o/seas soonest”.

Urgent police and ASIO clearances were obtained by phone on March 23 that year, his application approved on March 24, and citizenship granted at a Sydney ceremony on March 25. Bureaucrats have never been more efficient
This sets off so many alarm bells!! As it has been previously suggested here, did AKA know people in positions of authority that were able to make this happen so quicky? Who was the person who obtained these clearances by phone? I wonder if they are still alive if they can be tracked down and questioned?
A decade later, when the proverbial hit the fan, an immigration official acidly noted that Blum didn’t leave Australia until more than four months after becoming a citizen.

“Where was urgency of father’s illness???” the official wrote.
Then a decade later why did no-one take any notice of this immigration officers question? How did Australia's Immigration Department get this so wrong?
 
I still wish that people weren’t settling quite so firmly on the “fact” that MB returned and withdrew the money and here’s my reasoning…

I know that SL believes that it is MB’s writing on the arrival cards and AC at inquest came down firmly on the side of MB returning and I understand why evidence might point that way BUT….hear me out…when MB hasn’t actually been sighted back in Oz, are they not making the same error as the police did way back when SL was told that she had been sighted by police and did not want any connection with her family? If no one is even entertaining the possibility that she didn’t return then case becomes much less open and gets funnelled down one path.

For me the effect of concluding at this point that MB returned and that we are searching for a missing person in Oz might actually be one reason why the case isn’t getting as much coverage in the UK where her last “true” known whereabouts was. They are searching for a missing person in Oz, when IMO she could quite possibly still have gone missing in the UK or Europe. If you don’t pursue leads on all possibilities then you may miss important leads.

This is all IMO and as I have said before it may be that the police and AC have more definitive info that is not being revealed that leads them to this conclusion. I just would not be basing it solely on SL recognising MB’s writing on the arrival card when even the consulted handwriting experts couldn’t conclude this.
 
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This sets off so many alarm bells!! As it has been previously suggested here, did AKA know people in positions of authority that were able to make this happen so quicky? Who was the person who obtained these clearances by phone? I wonder if they are still alive if they can be tracked down and questioned?

Then a decade later why did no-one take any notice of this immigration officers question? How did Australia's Immigration Department get this so wrong?
And how many more times have they made the same mistake with other people like RB?
 
This sets off so many alarm bells!! As it has been previously suggested here, did AKA know people in positions of authority that were able to make this happen so quicky? Who was the person who obtained these clearances by phone? I wonder if they are still alive if they can be tracked down and questioned?

Then a decade later why did no-one take any notice of this immigration officers question? How did Australia's Immigration Department get this so wrong?


Mmmmm. Certainly makes you wonder how he got immediate citizenship. Yes ALARM BELLS ringing loud and clear.
I wonder if the Walker family had political connections?
On one of my rabbit hole searches with Mishy we tried to work out the Walker family tree. Did anyone else find the name Anderson family names in the tree?
 
Mmmmm. Certainly makes you wonder how he got immediate citizenship. Yes ALARM BELLS ringing loud and clear.
I wonder if the Walker family had political connections?
On one of my rabbit hole searches with Mishy we tried to work out the Walker family tree. Did anyone else find the name Anderson family names in the tree?
I didn't even think of the possibility of the Walker family having connections in certain government departments!

Edited to add -
It seems really odd to even have the citizenship ceremony so quickly after approval, the day after is unheard of IMO! I know times have changed but these days you can wait months for the ceremony, and this is after it takes many months, sometimes over 12 months to be approved for citizenship with a NO criminal record or questionable past.
 
I still wish that people weren’t settling quite so firmly on the “fact” that MB returned and withdrew the money and here’s my reasoning…

I know that SL believes that it is MB’s writing on the arrival cards and AC at inquest came down firmly on the side of MB returning and I understand why evidence might point that way BUT….hear me out…when MB hasn’t actually been sighted back in Oz, are they not making the same error as the police did way back when SL was told that she had been sighted by police and did not want any connection with her family? If no one is even entertaining the possibility that she didn’t return then case becomes much less open and gets funnelled down one path.

For me the effect of concluding at this point that MB returned and that we are searching for a missing person in Oz might actually be one reason why the case isn’t getting as much coverage in the UK where her last “true” known whereabouts was. They are searching for a missing person in Oz, when IMO she could quite possibly still have gone missing in the UK or Europe. If you don’t pursue leads on all possibilities then you may miss important leads.

This is all IMO and as I have said before it may be that the police and AC have more definitive info that is not being revealed that leads them to this conclusion. I just would not be basing it solely on SL recognising MB’s writing on the arrival card when even the consulted handwriting experts couldn’t conclude this.
SL did verify it was MB handwriting on the card.

AKA admitted he filled in passenger cards to save time.

SL has never said MB did arrive back in Australia.

She has only ever verified it was her mums handwriting.

I have been back and forth over this fence too. It is really difficult to make any conclusions based on what has been revealed so far.

IMO 'they' arent about to reveal information that could be presented at a trial if it goes this way.

IMO while they have said today that "he was born Willy Coppenolle" and that 'his father" died in the 40's and "step father" died in the 80's, that means jack s.

IMO there are too many layers to warrant this is all one and the same person back in the days of Renov Pubs.

IMO he was placed in this family, this isnt his real family.
 
I didn't even think of the possibility of the Walker family having connections in certain government departments!

Edited to add -
It seems really odd to even have the citizenship ceremony so quickly after approval, the day after is unheard of IMO! I know times have changed but these days you can wait months for the ceremony, and this is after it takes many months, sometimes over 12 months to be approved for citizenship with a NO criminal record or questionable past.
sure did
 
Mmmmm. Certainly makes you wonder how he got immediate citizenship. Yes ALARM BELLS ringing loud and clear.
I wonder if the Walker family had political connections?
On one of my rabbit hole searches with Mishy we tried to work out the Walker family tree. Did anyone else find the name Anderson family names in the tree?
Mmmm definitely! I'm with you. He would know just how advantageous it would be to have a connection with someone in Immigration Department. Makes you wonder if he had someone over a barrel there. We know how he took photos of GG to use against her - could he have done something similar with an Immigration officer? Like a honey trap situation and photos? I know it sounds bizarre but so has many aspects of this case.
 
Mmmm definitely! I'm with you. He would know just how advantageous it would be to have a connection with someone in Immigration Department. Makes you wonder if he had someone over a barrel there. We know how he took photos of GG to use against her - could he have done something similar with an Immigration officer? Like a honey trap situation and photos? I know it sounds bizarre but so has many aspects of this case.
I firstly thought Immigration Officer as being a male but perhaps was female.....
 
Or even a slum area in Bali.
He may have used a trip with a later victim to check that Marion's body was still there and undisturbed :(

I also am not convinced that Marion did come back.

hmm, I like this theory except Bali is a densely populated small island, and AFAIK most of the slums are even more densely populated than the rest of the island. I think it would be v difficult for a foreigner to hide a body somewhere like Bali. Maybe he could bribe someone to help, but MOO is it would be much easier to find an isolated area in NSW than in Bali for this purpose. :(
 
SL did verify it was MB handwriting on the card.

AKA admitted he filled in passenger cards to save time.

SL has never said MB did arrive back in Australia.

She has only ever verified it was her mums handwriting.

I have been back and forth over this fence too. It is really difficult to make any conclusions based on what has been revealed so far.

IMO 'they' arent about to reveal information that could be presented at a trial if it goes this way.

IMO while they have said today that "he was born Willy Coppenolle" and that 'his father" died in the 40's and "step father" died in the 80's, that means jack s.

IMO there are too many layers to warrant this is all one and the same person back in the days of Renov Pubs.

IMO he was placed in this family, this isnt his real family.
As you pointed out to me Mishy and I doubled checked it by listening to the inquest again but when AC asks him what was his father’s name and after a bit of confusion with the DD name Aka then adds at the end de Hedervary but AC misses it and doesn’t question him again. He is saying his father’s name is DDdeH.

This is why I so want to see that ORIGINAL birth certificate. And even then how do we know he didn’t steal that identity many years ago?

Part of me still believes (JMO) that he was Hungarian Jewish refugee taken in by the Catholic Church in Belgium.
 
IMO this is where recollections become less accurate once things turn sour. The lady designated by The Australian as Victim A advertised for a partner in a personal ad, so presumably was looking for romance. She allowed RB to take photos of her naked, so presumably this was a romantic relationship. So IMO the hook was romance and not the potential business proposition. “He’s ugly, he’s got not much education. No looks, no personality, insipid,” she said. “But the business, the business held me" as quoted was IMO not the opinion held until the relationship ended. RB was able to charm his way into many women's lives and affections..they must have found him attractive. All MOO, but as this romance scamming seemed to be a full time career for RB, he must have had something going for him....
Personal ads, coins, intimate photos for potential blackmail ..how many more ladies out there that were conned?
 
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