UK UK - Bristol, WhtMale 571UMUK, 25-35, fell from Clifton bridge, May'96

[webnut]

Al Ka, just interested - why do you think the unidentified person in your signature is from anywhere other than the UK?

 

[Al Ka]

Al Ka, just interested - why do you think the unidentified person in your signature is from anywhere other than the UK?

I don't. Certain items in his belongings do point though that he might have travel around (London shopper, Great Britain A-Z map, Guide map Eurohike Adventure - travel agent in Austria). Auzzies and South Africans when they come over to UK are known to travel extensively around whole Europe before their visas are up.

I will ask mods to move the comments to Bristol John Doe thread, once I manage to create it.

 

[Al Ka]

Bristol John Doe

Gender Male
Age Range 25 to 35
Ethnicity White European
Height (cm) 185cm = 6'0"
Build Medium
Date found 19 May 1996
Estimated Death
Body or remains Body

Circumstances

Body found on the bank of the River Avon. Believed he fell from Clifton suspension bridge.

Hair Light brown - Collar length
Facial hair
Eye colour Blue

Clothing

Jacket - Leather - Black

Shirt/blouse - Sweatshirt - Black - With 3 button and collar

Trousers - Jeans - Blue - "lee riders"

Footwear - Boots - Brown

Hose - Socks - White

Headwear - Checked - Cloth cap

Underwear - Underpants - Blue - Navy

Headwear - Baseball - Black - Logo on it

Underwear - Underpants - Green

Hose - Socks - Grey

Possessions

Silk cut cigarettes, Paperback book - 'The Greatest Batman Stories', Great Britain A-Z map, Thomas Moores 'Utopia' book, no outer cover and 'West Glamorgan County Council' on the front page, Holy Bible, London shopper, Guide map Eurohike Adventure, Black sleeping bag, Cardboard with handwritten message 'Sleeping rough, thank you', Green towel, Blue umbrella, Black corkscrew, 'Barclays' blank giro slip, 3 x disposable razors, Shaving stick, 'Lynx' body spray, Yellow toothbrush, Tin opener, Red penny whistle, White cup, £6.61 cash, Passport size photo

http://missingpersons.police.uk/en/case/03-001329/K8LF44F
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/571umuk.html

 

[musicaljoke]

Do you suppose he could be this Dutch fellow? Michel Rubarth would have been 25 yrs old. The hair colour, hair line, eye colour and height seem to match. They both had a black jacket.

https://www.politie.nl/en/wanted-and-missing/missing-adults/1997/november/07-michel-rubarth.html

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/2208dmnet.html

What do you think?

 

[Al Ka]

Michel Rubarth disappeared about a year after Bristol John Doe was found, but thank you for suggestion.

 

[Al Ka]

few extra details from Porchlight profile http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightEurope/index.php?showtopic=680

Distinguishing Characteristics:
Slightly receeding brown/fair hair; blue/grey eyes. He was a well built man with size 11 shoes. He had no scars or tattoos.

Clothing:
He was wearing blue 'Lee' denim jeans, a black leather jacket, a black sweatshirt with 3 buttons at the neck and brown boots.

Personal Effects:
Silk Cut cigarettes, an old copy of Sir Thomas More's 16th century Utopia, a well used copy of the Bible, a paperback copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson, and a book of Batman stories. His holdall also held a sleeping bag, clothes, soap, razors, a tin opener, a corkscrew, a red penny whistle, a road map of Britain and a cardboard sign saying 'Sleeping rough, thank you'.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Case History
The victim was located in the early hours of the morning on the 19th of May 1996 at the bottom of Clifton Suspension bridge, Bristol.
The photo shown, thought to be him, found on an old student card with all details scratched off, was found with various other possessions in a blue holdall.

 

[Al Ka]

And this is original link where Porchlight used information from. Quite interesting read about Cliffton Bridge, people who worked there, its victims and survivors.

Bristol's Suicide Bridge

http://www.fluidr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/2042386519

 

[webnut]

Thanks for posting this thread, I'm from Bristol and would love to see this case solved. Such a clear picture of him, someone somewhere should recognise him, lets hope.

 

[ellie b]

He certainly does have the look of German/Dutch doesn't he.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

He certainly does have the look of German/Dutch doesn't he.

Actually I've always thought he had that English public school look. There's a "type" which is quite distinctive.

With regard to his student card, I wonder if "all details scratched off" relates only to his personal details or if it includes details of the university he was attending.

And were all his reading materials in English? Was his copy of Utopia in the original Latin or translated? If so, into which language? What language was his Bible?

Does anyone know?

 

[Al Ka]

Actually I've always thought he had that English public school look. There's a "type" which is quite distinctive.

With regard to his student card, I wonder if "all details scratched off" relates only to his personal details or if it includes details of the university he was attending.

And were all his reading materials in English? Was his copy of Utopia in the original Latin or translated? If so, into which language? What language was his Bible?

Does anyone know?

As far as I am aware everything was in English, therefore assumption that he might not have come from mainland Europe (unless from bilingual family), but that he was rather British, Australian, South African or American.

Also, if you just hitchhike from x place to your friends or family place, you do not usually take maps with you, he did. Sounds to me he was exploring around a bit.
But again, what hitchhiker takes umbrella and corkscrew with him? Hm yes, public school look comes to mind too.

Old student card suggests he might have studied in UK. Also he had in possession - "Thomas Moores 'Utopia' book, no outer cover and 'West Glamorgan County Council' on the front page" - long ago when I was checking details it showed that that council building no longer exists. I wonder if he was studying somewhere around Swansea area or was traveling from that area to Bristol and then planned to go further.

 

[dotr]

Wondering why he bothered to keep the school photo if he was going to scratch off the details, why not toss the whole thing?
The uid wrote " sleeping rough " which to the best of my knowledge, is a UK term - in N.A, one would probably write " homeless "
Did he receive poor marks at school and that caused him to either run away from home, or not return there?
imo, speculation.

 

[webnut]

I've never done this before but scouring the missing people tonight and came across Mark Andrew Forth-Eglon http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/3894dmuk.html

I cant see a likeness but Mark is smiling, hair colour is similar,eye colour is right, height is out by an inch

 

[dotr]

I've never done this before but scouring the missing people tonight and came across Mark Andrew Forth-Eglon http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/3894dmuk.html

I cant see a likeness but Mark is smiling, hair colour is similar,eye colour is right, height is out by an inch

Good find!

 

[Ellmau]

"Thomas Moores 'Utopia' book, no outer cover and 'West Glamorgan County Council' on the front page" - long ago when I was checking details it showed that that council building no longer exists. I wonder if he was studying somewhere around Swansea area or was traveling from that area to Bristol and then planned to go further.

That sounds like a library book, to me, or ex-library stock sold off cheap.

 

[Al Ka]

I've never done this before but scouring the missing people tonight and came across Mark Andrew Forth-Eglon http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/3894dmuk.html

I cant see a likeness but Mark is smiling, hair colour is similar,eye colour is right, height is out by an inch

I think it is really good find, even though tip of the Mark nose seems much wider wile he smiles everything else facially seems to align really good, eyebrows, size of forehead, lips and even chin. On first look I have thought Mark has ginger hair but Doe net say brown. I would not worry much about inch height difference.

Let's keep in mind that they mentioned that John Doe photo is from old student card. If he was in his late 20s - early 30, photo could have been already 5-10 years old at that time.

I am trying to find out a bit more about Mark Andrew Forth-Eglon circumstances of disappearance as lets just say "he is from Birmingham and might be in New Zealand" is not really sufficient.

I have seen appeal to him from his mum and later on from his friend, but I won't link it here as they list their personal phone numbers there. Mark has daughter and son and shortly before disappearance climbing holiday in Switzerland is mentioned. So far I have not found if he came back or not from mentioned holidays. They have family in NZ, again it is not clear if due to this they think he might have traveled there. Somewhere else it is mentioned that he usually dressed well and was well mannered. (all details found are just hearsay and not the facts from official sources)

If anyone finds any solid information about him from the time of the disappearance or circumstances please feel free to post it here, with link to source.

 

[cottonweaver]

I've never done this before but scouring the missing people tonight and came across Mark Andrew Forth-Eglon http://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/3894dmuk.html

I cant see a likeness but Mark is smiling, hair colour is similar,eye colour is right, height is out by an inch

View attachment 100056

I don't know how this works but with a body found UK and a UK missing person - isn't the checking done automatically against the missing person database by the police? ( Basic info- height, shoe size, age range etc.) And thus this person will have already been discounted? Thus . it isn't the body of a UK national that has been reported missing?

Terribly sad, that list of possessions and the scratched card, Moore's Utopia , sleeping rough plus "favourite" suicide spot. The scratched student card is a puzzle suggesting as dotr says, possibly some unhappy memories of that college/university.

Shame that they have not photographed that student ID card as any university would be able to match an old uni ID card as they would have all been different colour/design, unless it was an NUS card.

 

[webnut]

I'm not sure how these things work, on this page it says the UID is known not to be Petrus Antonius BEENTJES but I dont know if they would have already ruled out UK missing people?

Mark Forth-Eglons case was featured on a BBC programme Missing Live 2010 episode 8 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rqryr but unfortunately its not available to watch, is there any way we can find this episode as Mark's children feature on it and may give more information than we know?

One other thing, in the items found with Bristol John Doe was a Eurohike Adventure guide map, Al-Ka said it was an Austrian agency, are we sure about this as Eurohike Adventure is also a brand sold by Millets (outdoor clothing/equipment) in the UK?

 

[mrazda71]

I don't think those 2 people in the photos above are the same man.

The nose is very different (smiley man's is much wider which wouldn't change even if smiling or not) and the depth of the forehead is noticeably different.

The student ID ... i've been thinking about the detail being scratched off - I'm making the assumption that police know that the photo matches the man it was found with so I would guess that the detail were scratched off because he wanted to be anonymous?

 

[jessie]

Can anyone place the side-on photo of Mark (the one showing his left side/ear) next to the full face of John Doe please.

Ears are very distinctive, no two alike. A comparison of that feature might help.

I'm hopeless with copying photos, so sorry can't do it myself. TIA.


eta.... The photo in Al Ka's post #3 shows JD's left ear well.