Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #22

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I am wondering - when she changed her name on her DL if she had to hand in the old card?

I know I have all of my old licence cards both from being renewed and from when I moved interstate.

So is it possible she still had the old card in the name of Barter and was using that for the withdrawals?

Also, if RB had her bank card and pin, could he have done the withdrawal over the counter? I know you can do that nowadays but did they have it back then?

I have a feeling that if a female with the correct identification papers and banking documents walks into the branch and asks to take $5000 out of her account (so happening to be the exact amount below which does not require scrutiny or a manager approval), then the bank teller must simply do as requested. Obviously the stooge would know everything about M - previous address, date of birth, etc. so if a couple of 'security questions' were asked then they'd pass.

Possibly the thieves (IMO RB and prob wife) had added a mobile phone number to the account too? So, if there was any need to call and verify ... there's M in the bank answering the phone number she's already registered to her account for the purpose of her travels.

I wonder what address M's bank account was registered to at this point as she had sold her own property? I wonder why M didn't buy a mobile phone as she wasn't short of funds and it would have been very helpful for her international travels. Even by 1997 I think phones were functioning to send text and even maybe (very low quality) photos. Where is M's camera? Are we supposed to imagine that she set out on a world trip with not so much as a small pocket camera?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I am wondering - when she changed her name on her DL if she had to hand in the old card?

I know I have all of my old licence cards both from being renewed and from when I moved interstate.

So is it possible she still had the old card in the name of Barter and was using that for the withdrawals?

Also, if RB had her bank card and pin, could he have done the withdrawal over the counter? I know you can do that nowadays but did they have it back then?

How is a DL change of name conducted in Australia in those days?

In the UK I think you'd probably have to post off your old licence with a request application form and a payment fee to the licence administration centre. Together with proof of the change of name deed. Not something you can walk in anywhere and do. I'd be fairly sure they issue the new one out by post and the old one gets at the very least holes clipped in it or stamped on or that it's not returned at all.

 

[*juniper*]

I am wondering - when she changed her name on her DL if she had to hand in the old card?

I know I have all of my old licence cards both from being renewed and from when I moved interstate.

So is it possible she still had the old card in the name of Barter and was using that for the withdrawals?

Also, if RB had her bank card and pin, could he have done the withdrawal over the counter? I know you can do that nowadays but did they have it back then?

Marion had her licence stolen a year or so earlier, so she would have been familiar with the process of reporting a theft/loss and getting a replacement licence. This would allow her to keep her old licence to use as ID.

Also, some funny stuff going on when the FNMR licence was issued - we have the extra A in Natalaia and incorrect gender. What was going on?

Marion had the opportunity to change her name with the bank when she was setting up the high interest account in June 1997, so leaving her name as MB seems to have been deliberate. JMO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Marion had her licence stolen a year or so earlier, so she would have been familiar with the process of reporting a theft/loss and getting a replacement licence. This would allow her to keep her old licence to use as ID.

Also, some funny stuff going on when the FNMR licence was issued - we have the extra A in Natalaia and incorrect gender. What was going on?

Marion had the opportunity to change her name with the bank when she was setting up the high interest account in June 1997, so leaving her name as MB seems to have been deliberate. JMO

As MB was a school teacher, I think this erroneous 'A' in the name spelling and the wrong gender serves as proof that she did not make the change of licence application. Maybe she knew nothing of it?

As the person who did most likely make the application is a longstanding fraudster and document forger, then they absolutely purposefully wrongly spelled it and put the wrong gender, IMO.

How did the licence get issued with incorrect spellings when a person has to provide documentary evidence to show a change of name? If that's the case, were these errors made on behalf of the licence processing clerk? Where is the documentation of all this, records will be kept somewhere even albeit on microfiche.

 

[sah10406]

It was easier in previous cons to ditch the women in another country (UK, Bali), but MB was at HOME.

As far as we know it was later victims who were abandoned overseas: JO was abandoned in the UK in 1999, and "Charlotte" in Bali in 2012. Although it seems likely there probably were more in between, and maybe before Marion.

The Lady Vanishes: A timeline of Ric Blum’s life, many aliases and links to Marion Barter

Police interviewing Blum, the last person believed to have seen Marion Barter, uncovered a record of more than 30 aliases.

7news.com.au

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

On a long drive, listening to Laura Richards I got to thinking of 1990s, Sussex, Banking and International moves. What was Ric telling her to do? (I did live in East Sussex at that time, had moved to UK from abroad and moved money to buy a home, family friend parents owned an independent school and I worked in field of international relocation of executives). Not an expert, but aware of some things.
A lot of thoughts dumped below …
Could he have found an actual school for sale? Or just window shopping schools? I’m not sure where you would find schools “listed” in the UK, at the time. I love to look at property/retail/commercial listings and auctions etc. over decades have never seen a school listed. I would think listing or contacts would be in Independent Schools Education Journals or membership groups. Parents don’t like to know an active school is “for sale”, it would cause enrollment to drop, teachers maybe to leave. Very sensitive to do a school sale, buyer buys knowing how many fee payers to keep the school running and pay salaries. I’m thinking he had a fake “contact”, maybe foreign owner only he could speak with. No way there was a real school for sale that he was in contact with. Unless it was an empty building, not a going concern. A huge financial risk to start a primary school from scratch.
A empty space for a small nursery school (ages 2.5 to 4) maybe do-able.

I have mentioned previously, that MB would have needed a lot of legal advice for immigration, working in uk, buying a school, employing staff. She was smart, she would know this. It one thing to be the “investor-owner”, another to be Headmaster which is the public face of the school. A nursery school easier & possible & private nursery fees partly subsidized so more affordable tuition.

The “marriage” would have helped her with right to work in UK, but would still need to make applications, get national insurance number and other documents to be “legal”. Set up a company. Her head would he spinning, but RB likely said he would take care of everything - give me all of your documents.
There are also the declarations/restrictions on bringing cash into the UK.
1. Those landing cards you used to need to complete. Was it £10k in the 1990s? Declare & meet customs for anything over that amount.
2. At the time, if you were relocating to UK, I believe you could bring in all of your cash, once to “settle” without it being a “tax event”. But she would need to have “legal” right to settle in UK before bringing funds.
Thinking RB bamboozled her with info like this and told her he could sort it out with his “coin” business expertise. Like bring all the cash to avoid a tax event, or it will take too long, get the cash NOW and we finalize purchase before term starts/ends?
3. Also, transferring funds to UK, at the time, through “normal” Banking transfers could take a couple of weeks for normal retail customers. But RB would want the cash. MB had a UK account should could have wired her money into easily though possibly slow. Also could have wired direct to school seller. RB could do not his con at a UK bank, didn’t know the system and IMO he didn’t have an accomplice to help. He needed the money in cash for his con.
If it were MB at the Australia bank, he definitely had to give her a reason to make her take the cash, I think it’s to avoid tax and buy school quick, like telling her going to Swiss Bank Account. Buy the school “offshore” or in “offshore trust” protect the money / investment for her kids? He used similar language with others. If he had an accomplice, the daily withdrawals were below an amount requiring extra approval that might uncover the fraud.

How did he convince her to keep it all a secret and do a big reveal - maybe to show all those little people at the old school her fabulous new life?
It would been a challenge to keep her happy, at home in Oz, in secret - in a local hotel? A remote property? Did she get too “sick” to go out? It was easier in previous cons to ditch the women in another country (UK, Bali), but MB was at HOME.

Not convinced it was Marion at the bank, taking smaller amounts that required less bank scrutiny? IMO- that RB had a middle aged female brunette accomplice. Picturing a scarf over her hair, some eyeglasses from Grafton …. MB deceased as soon as he figured out how to drain her bank.

On a long drive, listening to Laura Richards I got to thinking of 1990s, Sussex, Banking and International moves. What was Ric telling her to do? (I did live in East Sussex at that time, had moved to UK from abroad and moved money to buy a home, family friend parents owned an independent school and I worked in field of international relocation of executives). Not an expert, but aware of some things.
A lot of thoughts dumped below …
Could he have found an actual school for sale? Or just window shopping schools? I’m not sure where you would find schools “listed” in the UK, at the time. I love to look at property/retail/commercial listings and auctions etc. over decades have never seen a school listed. I would think listing or contacts would be in Independent Schools Education Journals or membership groups. Parents don’t like to know an active school is “for sale”, it would cause enrollment to drop, teachers maybe to leave. Very sensitive to do a school sale, buyer buys knowing how many fee payers to keep the school running and pay salaries. I’m thinking he had a fake “contact”, maybe foreign owner only he could speak with. No way there was a real school for sale that he was in contact with. Unless it was an empty building, not a going concern. A huge financial risk to start a primary school from scratch.
A empty space for a small nursery school (ages 2.5 to 4) maybe do-able.

I have mentioned previously, that MB would have needed a lot of legal advice for immigration, working in uk, buying a school, employing staff. She was smart, she would know this. It one thing to be the “investor-owner”, another to be Headmaster which is the public face of the school. A nursery school easier & possible & private nursery fees partly subsidized so more affordable tuition.

The “marriage” would have helped her with right to work in UK, but would still need to make applications, get national insurance number and other documents to be “legal”. Set up a company. Her head would he spinning, but RB likely said he would take care of everything - give me all of your documents.
There are also the declarations/restrictions on bringing cash into the UK.
1. Those landing cards you used to need to complete. Was it £10k in the 1990s? Declare & meet customs for anything over that amount.
2. At the time, if you were relocating to UK, I believe you could bring in all of your cash, once to “settle” without it being a “tax event”. But she would need to have “legal” right to settle in UK before bringing funds.
Thinking RB bamboozled her with info like this and told her he could sort it out with his “coin” business expertise. Like bring all the cash to avoid a tax event, or it will take too long, get the cash NOW and we finalize purchase before term starts/ends?
3. Also, transferring funds to UK, at the time, through “normal” Banking transfers could take a couple of weeks for normal retail customers. But RB would want the cash. MB had a UK account should could have wired her money into easily though possibly slow. Also could have wired direct to school seller. RB could do not his con at a UK bank, didn’t know the system and IMO he didn’t have an accomplice to help. He needed the money in cash for his con.
If it were MB at the Australia bank, he definitely had to give her a reason to make her take the cash, I think it’s to avoid tax and buy school quick, like telling her going to Swiss Bank Account. Buy the school “offshore” or in “offshore trust” protect the money / investment for her kids? He used similar language with others. If he had an accomplice, the daily withdrawals were below an amount requiring extra approval that might uncover the fraud.

Some interesting ideas percolating the last few days. Regarding a potential school sale, I think it's safe to assume that AKA could simply have driven Marion through a campus and told her that he had it from a good source that it was coming on the market-- and that if she were interested she should get funds ready to show her serious intent to the seller the minute it was posted as for sale. He could also BS his way through the facts that the school would only be shown to serious buyers; school records would only be available to serious buyers etc. BUT that she must be ready to put her cards on the table. IN England or as mentioned, in a Swiss bank account. An Australian bank account wouldn't do. If we can imagine a plausible story, AKA would do us all one better.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Regarding the 1990's and bank protocol, it's been fun trying to remember how we did it. Granted I'm in the US and it may have been different-- but everything seems amazingly lax then. If you had a check, it was cashed with no ID. (As I remember) Or you gave a bank/debit card. If you used a withdrawal slip and had the account number, you would show a debit card. (Debit card numbers are different than bank account numbers, so knowing the account number counted as some form of validation.) If a teller knew you, no ID was necessary. So, after one transaction it's possible a con-person could repeat the withdrawal daily as a "known" customer.

Thinking about the errors on the license made me chuckle. The name sounds so preposterous that if M were the gender, no one would question the name. You'd seem insensitive or dim. So if AKA had all the papers -- license, name change docs, the checkbook, bank or debit card -- he'd have all he needed. Would he even need the passport? Marion's original name is a unisex name. AND AKA had the license with Male and Marion on it. Does proof of name change show gender, I wonder? It's really all starting to seem simple and diabolical.

and finally, since AKA did leave women behind in other countries while he perpetrated the frauds, that's reason enough he intended to do it with Marion too. Only he left her behind in a more permanent way.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

IMHO the sting was all about buying a school in the UK. Marion’s postcard certainly points in that direction and Aka himself mentioned it.

Remember when Marion sent that postcard about buying a school the schools in the UK had broken up for Summer holidays (Independent schools break up even earlier fitting in nicely with their travel arrangements). It would have been very easy to walk around an empty school and say it was for sale with all his usual flannel.

How easy to take her to a small village school (near Burwash say) and suggest that was for sale.

I very much doubt Marion went to or spoke to any Property agents. It was just his voice in her ear. He used to live in that part of the UK so knew how to let Marion only see what he wanted her to see.

The school sale price Marion mentions in her postcards fits with the money he knew she had. It vastly underestimates the value of a school in that part of the UK even in 1997.

The British Newspaper Archive online has numerous local newspapers for that period but I doubt if you’ll find the school Marion wanted to purchase because IMHO it never existed.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

Some Commonwealth countries had special rights of entry to the UK. So if you had a grandparent born in the UK. If you had a parent born in the UK but you were say born in Aus or NZ your parents could get you 'registered' at the British High Commission. So in fact it might have been relatively easy for MB to have set up in the UK. I had friends who went over to the UK in late 1980s/early 1990s on a Certificate of Patriality and found the path to staying long term/working and then getting British citizenship was very easy.

I do agree though that a scammer/conman could still work to undermine a person who would have been quite competent to do these things on her own by herself.

I am not sure about the bank. Mainly don't know what to think really as I had a very bad reaction against the bank manager and her evidence at the Inquest.

you’re right about the Commonwealth people being able to stay in uk and work … I did give a quick look, commonwealth people born before 1982 have different rights.
A pre-1982 commonwealth person did need to make an application and prove their right of abode with original or certified documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, maybe also (male) parent birth certificates) and get the “right of abode” approval stamped in passport. This process took time, anything to the Home Office, even with lawyers facilitating would take weeks in late 1990s. Would be months without a lawyer. I moved to UK at same time as a NZ colleague same dept, same team 1996/97. It’s all coming back ...

It always irked me that for getting the right to work in UK the system was based on “patriality” you needed to prove Male parent/grandparent … I feel that (pre-dna) easier to prove your mother! We had cases of US people with grandma born in UK with no right, others with grandpa and rights.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

I have a feeling that if a female with the correct identification papers and banking documents walks into the branch and asks to take $5000 out of her account (so happening to be the exact amount below which does not require scrutiny or a manager approval), then the bank teller must simply do as requested. Obviously the stooge would know everything about M - previous address, date of birth, etc. so if a couple of 'security questions' were asked then they'd pass.

Possibly the thieves (IMO RB and prob wife) had added a mobile phone number to the account too? So, if there was any need to call and verify ... there's M in the bank answering the phone number she's already registered to her account for the purpose of her travels.

I wonder what address M's bank account was registered to at this point as she had sold her own property? I wonder why M didn't buy a mobile phone as she wasn't short of funds and it would have been very helpful for her international travels. Even by 1997 I think phones were functioning to send text and even maybe (very low quality) photos. Where is M's camera? Are we supposed to imagine that she set out on a world trip with not so much as a small pocket camera?

Excellent point about the mailing address … I thought I must have missed this detail in the podcast. Surely she had her bank statements going somewhere … must be a digital record at bank or tax office somewhere.
Info from the olden days:
Phones 1997 … no cameras yet. Or not common at all, low grainy quality. Texting not done - and texts, I believe were charged different from calls and texting was using the alpha-numeric keys clicking thru alphabet. I can recall contracts like “unlimited calls on same network and 100 texts a month”. Phone contracts more expensive and overseas calls crazy expensive. People used “calling cards”. MB demographic, and most people that year, would not use Aussie phone in UK. Might buy a phone in UK, but only for local uk calls. Calls would be dollars/pounds per minute unless you bought overseas calls in your contract. Not sure overseas texts would work.
That’s why she called from a pay phone, she might have used an international calling card, credit card (slot in payphone for cards) or lots of coins.
Film camera - she probably had one … but I’m sure RB made sure he was never photographed.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

Sorry duplicate

 

[Baby baby Jane]

How is a DL change of name conducted in Australia in those days?

In the UK I think you'd probably have to post off your old licence with a request application form and a payment fee to the licence administration centre. Together with proof of the change of name deed. Not something you can walk in anywhere and do. I'd be fairly sure they issue the new one out by post and the old one gets at the very least holes clipped in it or stamped on or that it's not returned at all.

Were the Australian driver licenses just paper with no photo in the 1990s? Or, MB stolen one replaced with paper temporary one? (Thinking paper easier to forge or alter). No photo.

Also, people used to get those “International Driver Licences” Before travelling abroad - they didn’t require anything official and were easy to buy from travel bureau if you had a local license. They were like a passport sized booklet - a bit of a bogus document that looked official and had maybe French and English words and maybe a passport photo stapled on it and an official looking seal. You would need it, or so you were told, to rent cars abroad.
Looking back, it was really too easy to scam.

 

[mishy66]

Yes- there was a requirement to nullify old/replaced passport, but not if it was reported as lost/stolen.

not if it was reported lost...or stolen....

 

[mishy66]

On a long drive, listening to Laura Richards I got to thinking of 1990s, Sussex, Banking and International moves. What was Ric telling her to do? (I did live in East Sussex at that time, had moved to UK from abroad and moved money to buy a home, family friend parents owned an independent school and I worked in field of international relocation of executives). Not an expert, but aware of some things.
A lot of thoughts dumped below …
Could he have found an actual school for sale? Or just window shopping schools? I’m not sure where you would find schools “listed” in the UK, at the time. I love to look at property/retail/commercial listings and auctions etc. over decades have never seen a school listed. I would think listing or contacts would be in Independent Schools Education Journals or membership groups. Parents don’t like to know an active school is “for sale”, it would cause enrollment to drop, teachers maybe to leave. Very sensitive to do a school sale, buyer buys knowing how many fee payers to keep the school running and pay salaries. I’m thinking he had a fake “contact”, maybe foreign owner only he could speak with. No way there was a real school for sale that he was in contact with. Unless it was an empty building, not a going concern. A huge financial risk to start a primary school from scratch.
A empty space for a small nursery school (ages 2.5 to 4) maybe do-able.

I have mentioned previously, that MB would have needed a lot of legal advice for immigration, working in uk, buying a school, employing staff. She was smart, she would know this. It one thing to be the “investor-owner”, another to be Headmaster which is the public face of the school. A nursery school easier & possible & private nursery fees partly subsidized so more affordable tuition.

The “marriage” would have helped her with right to work in UK, but would still need to make applications, get national insurance number and other documents to be “legal”. Set up a company. Her head would he spinning, but RB likely said he would take care of everything - give me all of your documents.
There are also the declarations/restrictions on bringing cash into the UK.
1. Those landing cards you used to need to complete. Was it £10k in the 1990s? Declare & meet customs for anything over that amount.
2. At the time, if you were relocating to UK, I believe you could bring in all of your cash, once to “settle” without it being a “tax event”. But she would need to have “legal” right to settle in UK before bringing funds.
Thinking RB bamboozled her with info like this and told her he could sort it out with his “coin” business expertise. Like bring all the cash to avoid a tax event, or it will take too long, get the cash NOW and we finalize purchase before term starts/ends?
3. Also, transferring funds to UK, at the time, through “normal” Banking transfers could take a couple of weeks for normal retail customers. But RB would want the cash. MB had a UK account should could have wired her money into easily though possibly slow. Also could have wired direct to school seller. RB could do not his con at a UK bank, didn’t know the system and IMO he didn’t have an accomplice to help. He needed the money in cash for his con.
If it were MB at the Australia bank, he definitely had to give her a reason to make her take the cash, I think it’s to avoid tax and buy school quick, like telling her going to Swiss Bank Account. Buy the school “offshore” or in “offshore trust” protect the money / investment for her kids? He used similar language with others. If he had an accomplice, the daily withdrawals were below an amount requiring extra approval that might uncover the fraud.

How did he convince her to keep it all a secret and do a big reveal - maybe to show all those little people at the old school her fabulous new life?
It would been a challenge to keep her happy, at home in Oz, in secret - in a local hotel? A remote property? Did she get too “sick” to go out? It was easier in previous cons to ditch the women in another country (UK, Bali), but MB was at HOME.

Not convinced it was Marion at the bank, taking smaller amounts that required less bank scrutiny? IMO- that RB had a middle aged female brunette accomplice. Picturing a scarf over her hair, some eyeglasses from Grafton …. MB deceased as soon as he figured out how to drain her bank.

"There is NO evidence of a UK Barlclays Account- it was simply her contact address for her Australian bank accounts in case she needed funds while OS" - "this was also under her name Marion Barter" - "Barclays was the bank that CBA processed their international transfer through - Barclays being the agent for CBA - when the funds werent touched Barclays returned the funds to the CBA to be actioned - because there was NO CBA account at the time of this return it went to the unclaimed funds dept. After fees this was what was left of the 20K -

MBFP

 

[mishy66]

IMHO the sting was all about buying a school in the UK. Marion’s postcard certainly points in that direction and Aka himself mentioned it.

Remember when Marion sent that postcard about buying a school the schools in the UK had broken up for Summer holidays (Independent schools break up even earlier fitting in nicely with their travel arrangements). It would have been very easy to walk around an empty school and say it was for sale with all his usual flannel.

How easy to take her to a small village school (near Burwash say) and suggest that was for sale.

I very much doubt Marion went to or spoke to any Property agents. It was just his voice in her ear. He used to live in that part of the UK so knew how to let Marion only see what he wanted her to see.

The school sale price Marion mentions in her postcards fits with the money he knew she had. It vastly underestimates the value of a school in that part of the UK even in 1997.

The British Newspaper Archive online has numerous local newspapers for that period but I doubt if you’ll find the school Marion wanted to purchase because IMHO it never existed.

Agree 100% @Lord Peter Flimsy
But because I don't believe she came back, I believe thanks to a 'fake marriage' her new husband was able to walk in and withdraw the funds when he arrived back into Australia with someone who looked similar to MB.

JMO

 

[VisitorDog]

I am wondering - when she changed her name on her DL if she had to hand in the old card?

I know I have all of my old licence cards both from being renewed and from when I moved interstate.

So is it possible she still had the old card in the name of Barter and was using that for the withdrawals?

Also, if RB had her bank card and pin, could he have done the withdrawal over the counter? I know you can do that nowadays but did they have it back then?

Hurrying her out of the country might have made it quite hard to get around to changing her bank account name. Maybe he told her not to worry about it as she could sort it out after her trip. The old ‘leave your paperwork with me, I’ll arrange to have it sent on for us.’ But then he either couldn’t take the money and needed her to come back, or she was suspicious a la JO. I know we’ve been through this lots of times though.

 

[VisitorDog]

Great points! And my memory is cheques were popular in the 90s. Especially at their ages back then.
I did try to search for WS links but the entire story is so convoluted that I didn’t find any one post that would help.
But if you do a search for ‘passport application’ and choose ‘this forum’, you can check out more info. Some refer to things that were shown at the Inquest.

I’ll have a search, thanks!

 

[*juniper*]

Excellent point about the mailing address … I thought I must have missed this detail in the podcast. Surely she had her bank statements going somewhere … must be a digital record at bank or tax office somewhere.
Info from the olden days:

Regarding bank statements, neighbour LLD gave evidence that she received some bank mail for Marion that she returned to sender; then the statements stopped coming. So it appears that Marion changed her contact address for her bank to her friend‘s address around June 1997. I believe Marion chose not to change her name with her bank because of the risk of a friend or family seeing the new name on her bank statement.

I have wondered why the statements stopped coming to friend LLD’s address. In my limited experience, which is related to receiving financial statements for an unknown person for many years, banks will just keep sending out statements even if previous mail is returned as ’Not Known At This Address’. I would not have expected that Marion’s mail would cease so soon, especially if the account was active and she was withdrawing money.

My thoughts - that some time after her passport returned to Australia, Marion’s bank mail was redirected to another address that could be accessed by AKA. But this then raises the question - if someone else had access to her bank statements, why was $20,000 left in her account? Hoping that Sally is on the way to getting answers very soon.

 

[VisitorDog]

I am not sure about the bank. Mainly don't know what to think really as I had a very bad reaction against the bank manager and her evidence at the Inquest.

Yes, it came across upsettingly callous and quite oddly detached. I thought the attitude was sadly similar to some family members when interviewed.

I believe Marion chose not to change her name with her bank because of the risk of a friend or family seeing the new name on her bank statement.

Good point.

 

[Martinie]

Regarding bank statements, neighbour LLD gave evidence that she received some bank mail for Marion that she returned to sender; then the statements stopped coming. So it appears that Marion changed her contact address for her bank to her friend‘s address around June 1997. I believe Marion chose not to change her name with her bank because of the risk of a friend or family seeing the new name on her bank statement.

I have wondered why the statements stopped coming to friend LLD’s address. In my limited experience, which is related to receiving financial statements for an unknown person for many years, banks will just keep sending out statements even if previous mail is returned as ’Not Known At This Address’. I would not have expected that Marion’s mail would cease so soon, especially if the account was active and she was withdrawing money.

My thoughts - that some time after her passport returned to Australia, Marion’s bank mail was redirected to another address that could be accessed by AKA. But this then raises the question - if someone else had access to her bank statements, why was $20,000 left in her account? Hoping that Sally is on the way to getting answers very soon.

I wonder if it was redirected to a P.O BOX?!?