agree, always fascinated me - was it bold or stupid to use such a rare (the only one in Aus) surname
Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #17
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agree, always fascinated me - was it bold or stupid to use such a rare (the only one in Aus) surname
I think it is worth noting the preparation that RB undertakes for his scams.
With ‘Charlotte’ who was married to his cousin in Belgium, RB maintained a connection with the family for many years via phone calls & postcards under the name of Willy (although he did sign a couple of postcards as FdH, which allowed LE to identify him).
After his cousin’s death in 2011, RB continued the phone calls to support his cousin’s widow. And RB’s next door neighbours at the time have stated how he obtained a new passport in the name of Willy-David Coppenolle. Then in 2012 he travelled to Belgium where he befriended Charlotte in person, convinced her to travel with him to Bali and scammed her for 200,000+ euros.
Charlotte also said that she saw him at a family funeral in Belgium in 1992. This was around the time the RB was living in Tasmania, where he obtained the passport in the name of RL Westbury and made several overseas trips that year. He also then changed his name to FdH but kept travelling on the RL Westbury passport for some years.
I wonder what scam he was up to in 1992 and if it was related to the family funeral he attended?
With ‘Charlotte’ who was married to his cousin in Belgium, RB maintained a connection with the family for many years via phone calls & postcards under the name of Willy (although he did sign a couple of postcards as FdH, which allowed LE to identify him).
After his cousin’s death in 2011, RB continued the phone calls to support his cousin’s widow. And RB’s next door neighbours at the time have stated how he obtained a new passport in the name of Willy-David Coppenolle. Then in 2012 he travelled to Belgium where he befriended Charlotte in person, convinced her to travel with him to Bali and scammed her for 200,000+ euros.
Charlotte also said that she saw him at a family funeral in Belgium in 1992. This was around the time the RB was living in Tasmania, where he obtained the passport in the name of RL Westbury and made several overseas trips that year. He also then changed his name to FdH but kept travelling on the RL Westbury passport for some years.
I wonder what scam he was up to in 1992 and if it was related to the family funeral he attended?
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I can't see him attending anyone's funeral unless there was something in it for him
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You're right, I agree. However, personally, I lean toward -- Marion returned -- because that's what Sally believes. Based on the passenger card handwriting, I believe. So that plus it's the simplest idea. IMO I can see Marion wearing a Bali flower behind her ear before I can imagine an imposter doing something so quirky and memorable. But, after hearing all the stories of RB's criminal acts, anything, and I mean anything, is possible.
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The names Ric West and Richard Lloyd Westbury are not your normal French/Belgium names. If someone introduced themselves with an English name but spoke in a Benelux accent that would immediately make me suspicious.
I assume he doesn’t do fake English accents?!!
I assume he doesn’t do fake English accents?!!
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It wouldn't surprise me here in Australia.
Many migrants used to anglicize their name. Migrants were discriminated against in all facets of life.
With an anglicized name you at least had a chance to get called up for a job interview or that house you wanted to rent.
I am glad that these days most people feel comfortable enough to use their real name.
So no, having a western sounding name but having an accent would not have been suspicious.
On meeting them most people would have assumed they'd anglicized it. It was a common practice.
I believe he was capable of forging handwriting. Wasn’t there a reference to his forging? Doesn’t his hand writing look different on different documents? Or am I confusing that with immigration officials? I used to spend hours trying to copy signatures for fun when I was a teen. I got quite good. I reckon he’s done that too.
yes, it was common to anglicise names in Australia, especially in the post war migration boom. I remember our Dutch neighbour telling me how he had been known as Willy. Soon after arrival in Australia he made the decision to be known as Bill, due to negative associations with the name Willy in the local culture.
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Thanks for that Tootsie. It would definitely stand out in the UK had he gone by those names over here.
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He certainly liked the name Richard Lloyd Westbury. He even had a little bag with the initials on it (or did he nick it off the real RLW?). Saying that I wonder if he had dozens of bags at home each with the initials of his various aliases?!! Quite a bag collection that would be. More than Lady Flimsy!
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From some of his photos I think he looked like a bit of a girly man.
Just saying
Just saying
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Maybe he wanted his name Richard Lloyd Westbury to sound a bit like Richard Lord Westbury, former Lord High Chancellor
The Life of Richard Lord Westbury Formerly Lord High Chancellor With Selections from his Correspondence by Thomas Arthur Nash: Very Good Hardcover (1888) 1st Edition | Books at yeomanthefirst
AbeBooks.com: The Life of Richard Lord Westbury Formerly Lord High Chancellor With Selections from his Correspondence: Richard bentley and Son, London (1888). 2 Vols. xiii,308; viii,312 pp. Frontispieces. First Edition in two hardback volumes, bound in original publisher?s blue cloth with gilt...
www.abebooks.com
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Just like Kel Knight and his huge collection of man bags
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According to FB Episode 46 of the podcast is out on Monday. Hopefully this will be quite revealing
It says the title is "The One Who Got Away" and that "it includes an absolutely heartbreaking interview from someone who knows Ric Blum very well." From the title, I assume it's the long-awaited interview with Monique Cornelius?
From The Australian:
Conman Ric Blum’s 92-year-old victim: ‘I hope he suffers’
An elderly widow who hasn’t been contacted by police has told of being ripped off by an international conman who is now central to inquiries into a Queensland teacher’s mystery disappearance.
Andree Flamme, 92, says serial fraudster Ric Blum offered to value her late husband’s rare gold and silver coins, conniving his way into staying at her Brussels home for 10 days, then fled with the collection when she went to the shops.
The theft was raised at an inquest into the suspected death of Marion Barter – who vanished after an affair with Mr Blum – because detectives found a letter Ms Flamme and her family wrote to the Queensland governor in 2010.
But Ms Flamme and her daughter Agnes Plume say Australian police have never been in touch, despite them being easily found this week, and Mr Blum has never been charged over the swindle.
Mr Blum lied at the ongoing NSW inquest into Barter’s disappearance when he claimed he returned the coins, the pair said.
He was also lying when he gave evidence that Ms Flamme had dementia, was in a wheelchair and “couldn’t put two words together” when he took the coins in 2010, they said.
Ms Flamme said she was still healthy more than a decade later, had never been in a wheelchair and didn’t have dementia.
“I think he’s the one who has Alzheimer’s because he’s obviously forgotten a lot of things,” Ms Flamme told The Weekend Australian from her current home in Portugal.
Barter, a Gold Coast mother-of-two and ex-wife of soccer legend Johnny Warren, vanished in 1997, aged 51. She had recently had a secret relationship with Mr Blum, who denies any involvement in her disappearance.
A series of other women have accused him of deceiving and stealing from them, which he also denies.
Now 83 and living at Ballina in northern NSW, the Belgian-born Mr Blum was able to obtain Australian citizenship despite being jailed in France for four years for fraud.
Immigration officials were considering charging him with obtaining his citizenship fraudulently – but he was able to stay, gaining nine Australian passports in seven different names, while living for decades on a taxpayer-funded disability pension.
There is now a public push to strip him of his citizenship, while the new evidence from Ms Flamme could potentially further delay the inquest findings, originally due last November.
Ms Plume said the family had been unaware of the inquest or any recent publicity about Mr Blum. “But if I have to get on a plane to Australia to help with the case, I’m there,” she said
Ms Flamme’s family knew Mr Blum as Frederick De Hedervary and called him “the Australian”.
He claimed he had a multimillion-dollar mansion in Australia and a Porsche. They now say they should have been more suspicious about his claims when, instead of checking into a hotel, he asked to stay with Ms Flamme while valuing her coins on a Brussels visit.
Mr Blum had previously befriended the family after hanging out at the Royal Library of Belgium, where Ms Flamme’s son-in-law worked.
Ms Flamme’s husband Jacques Plume died in October 2009.
He had built up over his lifetime a collection of very valuable gold and silver coins, including by investing money from the sale of a house he inherited. The prized collection was kept in a safety deposit box at the bank, until Mr Blum offered to value them.
He estimated they were worth about €20,000, but the family believe the real value was much more than that.
In June 2010, Ms Flamme left her home for about half an hour, and returned to find Mr Blum and the coins gone. She’d gone out to get him prawns he’d requested.
“He left a note on the table, saying that he would meet us at the antiques store two days later to sell the items, but he never showed,” Ms Plume said.
“In terms of sentimental value, they really meant a lot to us. He really abused the trust of a family who weren’t particularly well-off to begin with.”
Documents cataloguing and authenticating the coins had been stolen, and her husband’s meticulous notes about the coins were found torn to shreds.
The family never suspected Mr Blum could betray them, and police in Belgium said their lack of documentation made it hard to prove what they owned.
Mr Blum also made off with Ms Plume’s valuable gold jewellery, passed down to her from her grandmother and mother-in-law.
“He offered to value them for me. So he came to my home once to have a look at the pieces, and he took them with him back to my mother’s house where he was staying to properly value them,” she said.
At the inquest, Mr Blum produced a receipt he said proved he sent the coins back by registered post from Miami on the Gold Coast, where he was living at the time.
Ms Plume said he did send a package of coins, but it contained only a fraction of what he’d stolen and none of the valuable items.
“My mum wasn’t deranged, and she isn’t until this day. She’s still on the ball, and she can walk just fine,” she said.
Ms Flamme said she had been left with a deep sadness and lost trust in people. She still can’t believe the speed of the theft.
“I went to the shop just down the road, I wasn’t even gone that long,” she said.
“And when I got back, everything was gone. My God, I hope he suffers.”
Ms Flamme’s 2010 letter to then Queensland governor Penelope Wensley said Mr Blum was wanted by Belgian police and questioned how he was able to live in Australia and use the country as a shield.
The governor’s official secretary said in a letter of reply retained by the family that their concerns had been noted.
Conman Ric Blum’s 92-year-old victim: ‘I hope he suffers’
An elderly widow who hasn’t been contacted by police has told of being ripped off by an international conman who is now central to inquiries into a Queensland teacher’s mystery disappearance.
Andree Flamme, 92, says serial fraudster Ric Blum offered to value her late husband’s rare gold and silver coins, conniving his way into staying at her Brussels home for 10 days, then fled with the collection when she went to the shops.
The theft was raised at an inquest into the suspected death of Marion Barter – who vanished after an affair with Mr Blum – because detectives found a letter Ms Flamme and her family wrote to the Queensland governor in 2010.
But Ms Flamme and her daughter Agnes Plume say Australian police have never been in touch, despite them being easily found this week, and Mr Blum has never been charged over the swindle.
Mr Blum lied at the ongoing NSW inquest into Barter’s disappearance when he claimed he returned the coins, the pair said.
He was also lying when he gave evidence that Ms Flamme had dementia, was in a wheelchair and “couldn’t put two words together” when he took the coins in 2010, they said.
Ms Flamme said she was still healthy more than a decade later, had never been in a wheelchair and didn’t have dementia.
“I think he’s the one who has Alzheimer’s because he’s obviously forgotten a lot of things,” Ms Flamme told The Weekend Australian from her current home in Portugal.
Barter, a Gold Coast mother-of-two and ex-wife of soccer legend Johnny Warren, vanished in 1997, aged 51. She had recently had a secret relationship with Mr Blum, who denies any involvement in her disappearance.
A series of other women have accused him of deceiving and stealing from them, which he also denies.
Now 83 and living at Ballina in northern NSW, the Belgian-born Mr Blum was able to obtain Australian citizenship despite being jailed in France for four years for fraud.
Immigration officials were considering charging him with obtaining his citizenship fraudulently – but he was able to stay, gaining nine Australian passports in seven different names, while living for decades on a taxpayer-funded disability pension.
There is now a public push to strip him of his citizenship, while the new evidence from Ms Flamme could potentially further delay the inquest findings, originally due last November.
Ms Plume said the family had been unaware of the inquest or any recent publicity about Mr Blum. “But if I have to get on a plane to Australia to help with the case, I’m there,” she said
Ms Flamme’s family knew Mr Blum as Frederick De Hedervary and called him “the Australian”.
He claimed he had a multimillion-dollar mansion in Australia and a Porsche. They now say they should have been more suspicious about his claims when, instead of checking into a hotel, he asked to stay with Ms Flamme while valuing her coins on a Brussels visit.
Mr Blum had previously befriended the family after hanging out at the Royal Library of Belgium, where Ms Flamme’s son-in-law worked.
Ms Flamme’s husband Jacques Plume died in October 2009.
He had built up over his lifetime a collection of very valuable gold and silver coins, including by investing money from the sale of a house he inherited. The prized collection was kept in a safety deposit box at the bank, until Mr Blum offered to value them.
He estimated they were worth about €20,000, but the family believe the real value was much more than that.
In June 2010, Ms Flamme left her home for about half an hour, and returned to find Mr Blum and the coins gone. She’d gone out to get him prawns he’d requested.
“He left a note on the table, saying that he would meet us at the antiques store two days later to sell the items, but he never showed,” Ms Plume said.
“In terms of sentimental value, they really meant a lot to us. He really abused the trust of a family who weren’t particularly well-off to begin with.”
Documents cataloguing and authenticating the coins had been stolen, and her husband’s meticulous notes about the coins were found torn to shreds.
The family never suspected Mr Blum could betray them, and police in Belgium said their lack of documentation made it hard to prove what they owned.
Mr Blum also made off with Ms Plume’s valuable gold jewellery, passed down to her from her grandmother and mother-in-law.
“He offered to value them for me. So he came to my home once to have a look at the pieces, and he took them with him back to my mother’s house where he was staying to properly value them,” she said.
At the inquest, Mr Blum produced a receipt he said proved he sent the coins back by registered post from Miami on the Gold Coast, where he was living at the time.
Ms Plume said he did send a package of coins, but it contained only a fraction of what he’d stolen and none of the valuable items.
“My mum wasn’t deranged, and she isn’t until this day. She’s still on the ball, and she can walk just fine,” she said.
Ms Flamme said she had been left with a deep sadness and lost trust in people. She still can’t believe the speed of the theft.
“I went to the shop just down the road, I wasn’t even gone that long,” she said.
“And when I got back, everything was gone. My God, I hope he suffers.”
Ms Flamme’s 2010 letter to then Queensland governor Penelope Wensley said Mr Blum was wanted by Belgian police and questioned how he was able to live in Australia and use the country as a shield.
The governor’s official secretary said in a letter of reply retained by the family that their concerns had been noted.
Snap @sah10406 !
I think we posted the exact time!
Deleted mine just leaving the photo up.
Brave Brave Andree for coming forward!
We all ask the SAME question Mrs Flamme!
WHAT WAS the Australian Government DOING for the past 50 years!!!!
This case about AH really shows how negligent our legislation and Governing bodies are!!
AND STILL ARE!
I think we posted the exact time!
Deleted mine just leaving the photo up.
Brave Brave Andree for coming forward!
We all ask the SAME question Mrs Flamme!
WHAT WAS the Australian Government DOING for the past 50 years!!!!
This case about AH really shows how negligent our legislation and Governing bodies are!!
AND STILL ARE!
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This guy is such a joke ... he should have just handed everyone he scammed his home address and contact telephone number .... De Hedervary the only one in Australia.
Absolutely no chance that DDH has never had a victim on her doorstep or chasing them down.
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