Identified! UK - David Lytton, South Pennines, 'Neil Dovestone', 65-75, Dec'15

[Perodicticus potto]

Thank you so much for your kind words, everyone!

 

[Olivermore]

I'm not sure he HAD converted to Islam? Do we know for sure either way?

We (as in the general public) know very little about David's life in Lahore, maybe his brother Jeremy knows more about what he did and who he knew there. I doubt there's any connection to terrorism though.

One Koran upstairs
One Koran downstairs

 

[Olivermore]

Tube driver Did a runner to Pakistan after 7/7 2005

 

[Olivermore]

Came back to UK was poisoned on Indian Heads Hill Saddleworth Moor.

 

[dotr]

Lengthy article.
June 22 2020
Has the final mystery in the baffling case of 'Neil Dovestone' been solved?
''But mystery still surrounds what a man with no obvious connections to the Oldham or Saddleworth areas was doing on Saddleworth Moor.''

''Now a retired teacher and tutor from Cheshire reckons he has solved the puzzle - and it's all to do with a 1980s advertising campaign.

Robert Nield, 63, was brought up in Saddleworth and knows the area well.

In the 1980s, he would visit London and recalls seeing huge posters advertising Oldham as a place to work on display on walls and in lifts across the London Underground network.''

''Mr Nield, who taught physics and maths and has researched the tragic case extensively, told the Manchester Evening News : "I grew up in Saddleworth and know the area well.

"In the 1980s I occasionally visited London for a few days and remember seeing to my astonishment, in a lift on the Underground, a large poster-advert showing a view across Greenfield towards Chew valley in the distance.

"Oldham was written in large letters underneath.

"The poster, probably one of several in the Underground, was part of an advertising campaign to attract new business to the town in the 1980s.''

"Being a London Underground driver - 1985 to 2005 - there's a high probability Mr Lytton saw the posters and was struck by the memorable, unexpected image of beautiful scenery associated with a northern mill town.''

"Mr Lytton had no map in his possession.''

A Google image similar to the poster (Image: Google)

 

[tom16]

I’m a first time poster on websleuths and have followed this thread and story for sometime now. I am a photographer and for the past two and a half years I have been working on a series which documents David’s journey from Ealing to Saddleworth Moor.

I have never come across a story like this one, with some many unknowns. It has been a fascinating insight to see everyone’s theories on here.

I am due to make another trip to Saddleworth in the coming weeks and I’d love to hear from anyone who has posted on this thread previously to discuss the story some more.

I’d be happy to share some of the images following my next trip if anyone is interested.

 

[trendsetter]

Has the final mystery in the baffling case of 'Neil Dovestone' been solved?

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." Betteridge's law of headlines - Wikipedia

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Isn't it just guessing.
It doesn't answer the question, at least not to my mind.

 

[tom16]

Isn't it just guessing.
It doesn't answer the question, at least not to my mind.

I agree, but this story has so many unanswered questions that a little bit of guesswork has to come in somewhere along the line.

 

[dotr]

This plane crash has been mentioned on this thread many times, this time Mr Lytton has been referenced in an article about that crash..
Survivor of Saddleworth Moor plane crash recalls tragedy on 70th anniversary
August 2019

 

[dotr]

I agree, but this story has so many unanswered questions that a little bit of guesswork has to come in somewhere along the line.

Welcome to Ws tom 16!
Still trying to "guess" why DL chose to die by strychnine as opposed to presumably less painful methods?

 

[tom16]

Welcome to Ws tom 16!
Still trying to "guess" why DL chose to die by strychnine as opposed to presumably less painful methods?

That is one of many questions, and one that I just can't work out an answer for....

I'd love to chat to anyone who lives near or has visited Dovestones Reservoir over the years.

 

[Grouse]

Isn't it just guessing.
It doesn't answer the question, at least not to my mind.

You're right it is just guessing but it's an appealing theory. I sleuthed this case quite a lot around March 2020 after listening to the Radio 4 podcasts (all on my lonesome unfortunately as it was before I knew Websleuths existed) and the connection to that area was the thing that baffled me most, as the plane crash and other theories didn't seem conclusive from what I recall on the podcast. The fact that DL worked on the underground for 15 years and at the time these posters were showing seems quite a compelling potential connection to me.

 

[Puzzles]

This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Hi @Perodicticus potto,
I so want to read your poem, but the link you posted won't open. Are you able to post it here on the main thread, or send it to me in Private Conversation? Please.

 

[dotr]

Hi @Perodicticus potto,
I so want to read your poem, but the link you posted won't open. Are you able to post it here on the main thread, or send it to me in Private Conversation? Please.

Hopefully it will be re posted, the title of the poem (i think) is, ''Sestina for D.L.''

 

[Perodicticus potto]

Hi @Perodicticus potto,
I so want to read your poem, but the link you posted won't open. Are you able to post it here on the main thread, or send it to me in Private Conversation? Please.

Thanks for letting me know - looks like the site where it was published has gone offline. I'll try and put it on my own website tomorrow and post a new link (if that's allowed).

Edit: Meanwhile, you can read it on the archived version of the original site: Sestina for D.L by Laura Del Col Brown

 

[Puzzles]

Ah, dear Perodicticus, within the demanding confines of a sestina, you've created a beautiful and haunting memorial for DL.
I applaud you.

Edited to add – I repeat out loud to myself – "The steel that braced his bone".
Stunning sensory language.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

Ah, dear Perodicticus, within the demanding confines of a sestina, you've created a beautiful and haunting memorial for DL.
I applaud you.

Edited to add – I repeat out loud to myself – "The steel that braced his bone".
Stunning sensory language.

Thank you so much! You're very kind. I've now put the poem on my own site: Sestina for D.L. — Laura Del Col Brown

 

[Susikatze]

In Pakistan, by law, like in many other Muslim countries, a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a non Muslim man. If a man wants to live with a Muslim woman, he would have to formally undergo conversion to Islam, it is a fairly quick and straightforward process. Nothing good or bad about it, that is how the law works.
Many men do that formally for a woman, even though they do not intend to live as Muslims. That is fairly common. So the question whether he was Muslim or not is a pretty mute point (and why should there be a terrorism connection, that is a pretty strong assumption?).
If he dated/married a Pakistani woman (I guess, someone younger than him, but I have no insight into it), he would have been required to "convert". I hope he had fulfilled and happy years in Pakistan. It is hard to be a lonely middle aged man... i understand why he was looking for love and a new life.

May your neshama have an aliya, David. You are in a better place now.

Edit, just saw, the last post was 2017 and everything has been said already. Solace and closure to his brother and all who loved him. What a gentle soul.

My impression is that David might have moved to Pakistan in 2006 due to a woman (read: romance), which could perhaps explain why he never even told his former close girlfriend Maureen that he was leaving. Apparently, there is no evidence ascertaining that David was a Muslim convert, other than what David allegedly told his Pakistani neighbour. Who knows if David might have claimed as such, so as to better his chances with a Pakistani lady ...





Edit: Interestingly enough, based on the 2nd para above, David's neighbours in Pakistan thought he was Christian.

 

[Susikatze]

I love your poem. In Jewish tradition, as long as we keep a persons memory alive with words, they are not dead.

Well done, thank you!

Thank you so much! You're very kind. I've now put the poem on my own site: Sestina for D.L. — Laura Del Col Brown