Australia Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, Jun 1997 #4

[Mjjj14]

I read something about his Documentary on Scientology being pulled but that was late last year. Maybe he was busy making that.

I had a look on Twitter and it's said he deleted his account.

Interesting. Hopefully he’s doing well.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

DBM

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Twitter comments say he's received death threats

Interesting. Hopefully he’s doing well.

 

[KiwiNZ]

I heard or read somewhere recently, in reference to the inquest ... and can not remember where ... that Sally had stated she felt the background noise in the last phone call was in a airport

Struck me as odd as I don't remember her saying that before

 

[TootsieFootsie]

That was a surprise to me. Have never heard any description of where it might have been before, other than it was a payphone.

Struck me as odd as I don't remember her saying that before

 

[Loxoli]

Twitter comments say he's received death threats

Oh gosh. Does it say what it was in relation to?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Yes it said it was from some "Scientology goon". Didn't mention a name.

Oh gosh. Does it say what it was in relation to?

 

[Loxoli]

I’m catching up on the new episodes of the podcast. It’s very sad to hear that Sally hadn’t heard from Marion’s sisters (she said she hadn’t heard from any of them, but I don’t know exactly who she was referring to and if that included Marion’s parents or not). I believe she implied that they weren’t supporting her at the inquest either. Do we know if any of Marion’s family has appeared at the inquest yet or if we are expecting to hear from them?

 

[Mjjj14]

That was a surprise to me. Have never heard any description of where it might have been before, other than it was a payphone.

Yeah! When I re-listened to the earlier episodes today, Sally was talking about the call after the Thredbo trip and this is not verbatim but her and Bryan were discussing it and Bryan asked “and where or what did it sound like Sally?” And Sally says “it was just a pay phone”.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

She sounded very sad when she mentioned the lack of contact from family members.

 

[Mjjj14]

I’m catching up on the new episodes of the podcast. It’s very sad to hear that Sally hadn’t heard from Marion’s sisters (she said she hadn’t heard from any of them, but I don’t know exactly who she was referring to and if that included Marion’s parents or not). I believe she implied that they weren’t supporting her at the inquest either. Do we know if any of Marion’s family has appeared at the inquest yet or if we are expecting to hear from them?

Marion’s parents are unfortunately deceased so she can’t have heard from them. I hope Deidre is giving evidence so we can hear more about Mazz and the dentist incase she has any knowledge of them.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Marion's Father died in 2003, after a lengthy illness.

I'm not sure when her Mother died.

The Lady Vanishes: The timeline of Marion Barter's disappearance

 

[KiwiNZ]

if Marion did want to disappear and start a new life, without her family, she would have thought that changing her name to Florbella Remakel would have been enough to cover her tracks, for her family to have still tracked her down would have come as a shock considering the lengths she had gone too. She wouldn't have known that they didn't know about the name change or how they tracked her down, if you really did want to disappear you would probably ditch the name and go to even more elaborate lengths next time since merely changing your name by deed poll would have seemed to be not enough.

Just trying to think like someone whom wanted to remove themselves from their family.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

If she did decide to disappear, I wonder if she just expected everyone to just say, oh well she's gone, nothing we can do.

Didn't count on Sally who would not give up looking for her, forever if she had to.

I still kind of believe something scared her, enough to leave. Maybe the accusations about her, maybe she found out something.

Like Sally said, "something happened to make her leave". I think it's more than a scam romance thing, unless she confided in the scammer about the school and the scammer scared the life out of her and convinced her to leave and never contact her family again.

I go from one thing to another.

Just trying to think like someone whom wanted to remove themselves from their family.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

When I do my Christmas cards, I usually do all the addresses first. That's quite likely what Marion did too.

Marion may have pre-addressed some postcards

 

[Mjjj14]

If she did decide to disappear, I wonder if she just expected everyone to just say, oh well she's gone, nothing we can do.

Didn't count on Sally who would not give up looking for her, forever if she had to.

I still kind of believe something scared her, enough to leave. Maybe the accusations about her, maybe she found out something.

Like Sally said, "something happened to make her leave". I think it's more than a scam romance thing, unless she confided in the scammer about the school and the scammer scared the life out of her and convinced her to leave and never contact her family again.

I go from one thing to another.

Me too, I go from one likely scenario to the other.

I noticed that TSS was focussed on heaps at the start of the podcast and seemed to be the catalyst of all Marion’s worries. I wonder if the accusation Sally spoke of in one of the earlier episodes was enough to trigger Marion into wanting to change her name completely and disappear so that she/her family wouldn’t have to go through any potential investigation into that allegation
(Just to be abundantly clear I do not for one second that Marion was behaving inappropriately at TSS or anywhere else). It could also explain the obsession with returning the kitchen scales and other school items - I could imagine Marion
wanting to cut all ties and have everything returned so that the person who made that original accusation couldn’t cause further trouble for her (such as saying she stole the school items).

 

[Lulu mac]

@Peralta I hope you don’t mind but please let me know if you do. I’ve just merged your fantastic timelines together and added two extra entries (in italics). Please feel free to correct, rewrite, make additions or ask me to delete. I find your timeframes of events very helpful and it’s interesting to see the connections between the events.


22 June 1997

• Marion tells family and friends she is going to England for possibly a year.
• Passenger card states she's permanently leaving for Luxembourg and her flight departs from Australia and arrives in England, which is crossed out and replaced with South Korea.

(Did she even know she was going to South Korea? If she bought her own ticket, she would know, surely!)

30 June 1997

• Sally receives letter postmarked Tunbridge Wells, on stationery from Narita, Japan

July 1997

• Sally/relative receives postcards postmarked Brighton, Kent, Sussex Coast and London.
• Sally receives postcard postmarked 7 July from Hastings.
• Also sent letters/postcards to some of her students during this period.
• Sent early gift to sister for her 7 August birthday.

15 July 1997

• Original date Marion’s was going to travel on Orient Express.

1 August 1997 (late afternoon/early evening AEST)

Marion calls Sally from payphone. She says she’s in Tunbridge Wells having tea and scones with ladies she just met. Says she won't be calling or sending postcards for a while in order to enjoy vacation. However, it’s likely she was already in transit to Australia.

2 August 1997 (AEST)

Marion arrives in Australia on Florabella passport. Not sure if she entered through Sydney or Brisbane airport. There’s some mention of her possibly staying at the Novotel hotel in Brisbane.

August 1997

• Postcards arrive in Australia from Marion in England.

7 August 1997

Canceled RACQ membership and policy (roadside assistance and vehicle insurance).

13 August 1997

Medicare card is used at optometrist at Grafton Shoppingworld.

30 August 1997

Date (unknown if that is the postmark or written date) on the last known postcard from Marion in Tunbridge England to Deirdre in Australia.

August to September 1997

$5000 withdrawn every day for 3.5 weeks at Commonwealth Bank Byron Bay and 3 days in middle at Burleigh Heads, totalling between $85k to $120k.

5 October 1997

$80000 withdrawal from Ashmore branch.

18 October 1997

Owen’s birthday. He did not hear from Marion.

22 October 1997

Sally visits Byron Bay bank and police, and reports Marion as missing.

thanks so much for this timeline loxoli and peralta .
If $80000 was in fact withdrawn or transferred somewhere from Ashmore then you’d think that would have to be marion. The bank manager from Ashmore said he and his colleagues knew her quite well. So maybe she needed that exact amount to transfer into some sort of property or stock ?
Everything is so confusing.
Surely there is a data hacker that can hack data about transactions that have been erased?

 

[Lulu mac]

@Peralta I hope you don’t mind but please let me know if you do. I’ve just merged your fantastic timelines together and added two extra entries (in italics). Please feel free to correct, rewrite, make additions or ask me to delete. I find your timeframes of events very helpful and it’s interesting to see the connections between the events.


22 June 1997

• Marion tells family and friends she is going to England for possibly a year.
• Passenger card states she's permanently leaving for Luxembourg and her flight departs from Australia and arrives in England, which is crossed out and replaced with South Korea.

(Did she even know she was going to South Korea? If she bought her own ticket, she would know, surely!)

30 June 1997

• Sally receives letter postmarked Tunbridge Wells, on stationery from Narita, Japan

July 1997

• Sally/relative receives postcards postmarked Brighton, Kent, Sussex Coast and London.
• Sally receives postcard postmarked 7 July from Hastings.
• Also sent letters/postcards to some of her students during this period.
• Sent early gift to sister for her 7 August birthday.

15 July 1997

• Original date Marion’s was going to travel on Orient Express.

1 August 1997 (late afternoon/early evening AEST)

Marion calls Sally from payphone. She says she’s in Tunbridge Wells having tea and scones with ladies she just met. Says she won't be calling or sending postcards for a while in order to enjoy vacation. However, it’s likely she was already in transit to Australia.

2 August 1997 (AEST)

Marion arrives in Australia on Florabella passport. Not sure if she entered through Sydney or Brisbane airport. There’s some mention of her possibly staying at the Novotel hotel in Brisbane.

August 1997

• Postcards arrive in Australia from Marion in England.

7 August 1997

Canceled RACQ membership and policy (roadside assistance and vehicle insurance).

13 August 1997

Medicare card is used at optometrist at Grafton Shoppingworld.

30 August 1997

Date (unknown if that is the postmark or written date) on the last known postcard from Marion in Tunbridge England to Deirdre in Australia.

August to September 1997

$5000 withdrawn every day for 3.5 weeks at Commonwealth Bank Byron Bay and 3 days in middle at Burleigh Heads, totalling between $85k to $120k.

5 October 1997

$80000 withdrawal from Ashmore branch.

18 October 1997

Owen’s birthday. He did not hear from Marion.

22 October 1997

Sally visits Byron Bay bank and police, and reports Marion as missing.

thanks so much for this timeline loxoli and peralta .
If $80000 was in fact withdrawn or transferred somewhere from Ashmore then you’d think that would have to be marion. The bank manager from Ashmore said he and his colleagues knew her quite well. So maybe she needed that exact amount to transfer into some sort of property or stock ?
Everything is so confusing.
Surely there is a data hacker that can hack data about transactions that have been erased?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I agree with your thoughts re the school.

I also never for a second believed in those accusations against her.

I can only imagine how horrified she must have been, and yes I can see it as a reason for her wanting to leave the school, and maybe a reason for disappearing but before she did making sure the school scales were returned. It may have seemed a small thing but it just goes to show how she valued her reputation.

I noticed that TSS was focussed on heaps at the start of the podcast and seemed to be the catalyst of all Marion’s worries. I wonder if the accusation Sally spoke of in one of the earlier episodes was enough to trigger Marion into wanting to change her name completely and disappear so that she/her family wouldn’t have to go through any potential investigation into that allegation
(Just to be abundantly clear I do not for one second that Marion was behaving inappropriately at TSS or anywhere else). It could also explain the obsession with returning the kitchen scales and other school items - I could imagine Marion
wanting to cut all ties and have everything returned so that the person who made that original accusation couldn’t cause further trouble for her (such as saying she stole the school items).

 

[Mjjj14]

@Peralta I hope you don’t mind but please let me know if you do. I’ve just merged your fantastic timelines together and added two extra entries (in italics). Please feel free to correct, rewrite, make additions or ask me to delete. I find your timeframes of events very helpful and it’s interesting to see the connections between the events.


22 June 1997

• Marion tells family and friends she is going to England for possibly a year.
• Passenger card states she's permanently leaving for Luxembourg and her flight departs from Australia and arrives in England, which is crossed out and replaced with South Korea.

(Did she even know she was going to South Korea? If she bought her own ticket, she would know, surely!)

30 June 1997

• Sally receives letter postmarked Tunbridge Wells, on stationery from Narita, Japan

July 1997

• Sally/relative receives postcards postmarked Brighton, Kent, Sussex Coast and London.
• Sally receives postcard postmarked 7 July from Hastings.
• Also sent letters/postcards to some of her students during this period.
• Sent early gift to sister for her 7 August birthday.

15 July 1997

• Original date Marion’s was going to travel on Orient Express.

1 August 1997 (late afternoon/early evening AEST)

Marion calls Sally from payphone. She says she’s in Tunbridge Wells having tea and scones with ladies she just met. Says she won't be calling or sending postcards for a while in order to enjoy vacation. However, it’s likely she was already in transit to Australia.

2 August 1997 (AEST)

Marion arrives in Australia on Florabella passport. Not sure if she entered through Sydney or Brisbane airport. There’s some mention of her possibly staying at the Novotel hotel in Brisbane.

August 1997

• Postcards arrive in Australia from Marion in England.

7 August 1997

Canceled RACQ membership and policy (roadside assistance and vehicle insurance).

13 August 1997

Medicare card is used at optometrist at Grafton Shoppingworld.

30 August 1997

Date (unknown if that is the postmark or written date) on the last known postcard from Marion in Tunbridge England to Deirdre in Australia.

August to September 1997

$5000 withdrawn every day for 3.5 weeks at Commonwealth Bank Byron Bay and 3 days in middle at Burleigh Heads, totalling between $85k to $120k.

5 October 1997

$80000 withdrawal from Ashmore branch.

18 October 1997

Owen’s birthday. He did not hear from Marion.

22 October 1997

Sally visits Byron Bay bank and police, and reports Marion as missing.

I just have one last thing to add from my re-listen of episodes 1-4 today! The withdrawal of $80,000 from Ashmore happened on 15 October 1997 (according to these earlier episodes) not the 5th of October 1997. I find this super interesting because it’s A LOT closer to Owens birthday than I realised and also a lot closer to Sally calling the bank and attending the Byron Bay police station. We’re talking a matter of days, not weeks like I was first thinking!