Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #17

[TootsieFootsie]

The Lady Vanishes: Stunning claim from conman’s ex that ‘these hands have killed’

‘One day he told me, ‘Look, these hands have already killed’ and he showed me his hands.’

7news.com.au

 

[Martinie]

wonder if the ever talked to IK's friend she stayed with, I located a person whom may have been that friend on facebook - obviously didn't contact them or anything but looked to a good fit.

You could send it to Sally to investigate further

 

[HinterlandObserver]

I keep saying they have coin....

Bought in the boom!

 

[Eyespywithmylittleeye]

So this is where I’m confused with MC she said that they were together and she realised he had a son (this was before Maite) was born she found out and she bailed out.

Why then was he sending letters to her way after that date? Wasn’t song to my testicles sent when he lived in midway point?

Or do I have my wires crossed ( so many dates and so many places)

 

[KathPlumber]

Really infuriating that Mme Flamme wasn’t followed up by police. The emails to RB’s son could have been enough to make him a witness worthy of appearing at the inquest. IMO.

(Edited to fix spelling of name)

 

[*juniper*]

Why then was he sending letters to her way after that date? Wasn’t song to my testicles sent when he lived in midway point?

Or do I have my wires crossed ( so many dates and so many places)

I believe that RB was ‘hoovering‘ MC & trying to maintain his connection with a potentially useful future contact. In the same way he stayed in touch with Cousin Michel & family for decades until he finally scammed Michel’s widow Charlotte.

If only we knew what RB was up to in 1992 when he attended a family funeral in Europe. This was around the time he had moved to Midway Point Tasmania & changed his name (again). And he sent MC a postcard too. He was planning something….. MOO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

The current home of the deceitful Blums sales / purchase history

View attachment 407237

Is there a right to know who sold / purchased properties? Or would that be indicated on public registers such as electoral roll etc?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

There was no new information in the latest podcast, (aside from ER's revelation of another lady giving AKA a huge sum of money in Melbourne). MC's interview seemed pretty pointless. She either knows A LOT that she isn't giving up, or really does know nothing. I was quite disappointed to be honest.

I agree but think she's pretty terrified of 'consequences' when she said if anything happens to me then please know that he did it.

Also, she did say that she's written many lengthy and detailed emails with everything she knows and can recall that have already gone to the police (not sure which police) and that she didn't want to go back through it all, which is understandable at her age and also if these events have traumatised her or evoked troubling emotions for her.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

The real FR is the trained psychologist. In a way I wish they had interviewed her in her native Luxembourgish or in French. There were a whole host of questions I would have liked to ask about their relationship and more about Aka himself.

Aha... so, at some point she asked the real FR to speak with RB as she was no longer believing some things that he said. OK. I guess therefore she was openly in a relationship with RB (sounds like it was only ever on/off at best - for reasons we now know why) and still on good enough terms with her ex or soon to be ex husband at that point to ask him to try suss out the situation.

I think that FR *not* speaking with RB could maybe have saved FR's life! JMO MOO.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Many years ago I read a book called 'The Claimaint' and I guess those of you in Australia would be familiar with it? I can't recall the detail except it was a convoluted story of identity and deception that unfolded over decades and for some reason, this case has just reminded me of it.

Brian Matthews reviews 'The Claimant' by Janette Turner Hospital

‘You acquired the habit of disguise and now you can’t shed it.’ This observation, made by a nameless old man to Lilith Goldberg, one of the three main protagonists of The Claimant, lies at the heart of the novel, though it shares that vibrantly beating heart with much else: the implications and...

www.australianbookreview.com.au

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

If the real FR knew his identity card had been stolen once upon a time why didn’t he mention this? Surely MC would have told him of Aka’s Australian links before the supposed meeting?

When MC was first interviewed on the TLV no mention from her about the FR & Aka meeting and stolen ID card? Again the Australian link would surely have been a red flag?

Why did MC retain the love letters from such a dangerous guy?

Just a few of the questions I might have asked?

Just my personal suggestions and interpretation but I suspect there was a time when MC was slightly fascinated with RB and hoped she could 'tame' him maybe or the sort of delusional romantic ideas us women imagine when in fact we're dealing with a serial cheat, charmer, and psychopath. Maybe she had secretly hoped over the years that he would devote himself to her and she would be 'the one' and it's only now in the cold light of day upon review that she realises the full truth. As she said herself, it's the fact she never had any wealth and was living of her modest earnings that probably meant he never fully focused on her. He still exploited their connection as we know. Also he was obviously hoping to keep her quiet by speaking of his affection and love for her at the Inquest.

 

[KiwiNZ]

Is there a right to know who sold / purchased properties? Or would that be indicated on public registers such as electoral roll etc?

I think real estate agents can assess the information.

In NZ you can ask the local council but not sure about Aus

 

[HinterlandObserver]

I think real estate agents can assess the information.

In NZ you can ask the local council but not sure about Aus

There are databases you can access if you pay and have security clearance, electoral rolls give street numbers if you visit the office.
There’s a few things out there.

 

[Martinie]

Does anyone else wish they would pronounce his surname more like ‘scum’ than ‘bloom’ (like a flower - how ironic)?

I pronounce it Blumhole because that's what he is.

 

[Meligator]

Thank you Mishy, no idea how you manage to recall/retrieve so much. So from that info, it may be that IK 'fled Belgium' to get away from him in or after 1971, rather than in 1969 on the original trip to Aus when they had just married, approx 9mths before ER was born. Happy to be corrected, but that timeline makes more sense IMO.
I am just gutted that an inadequate pathetic person has been able to taint/wreck so many lives. All MOO

Yes, there are aspects of these stories that don't completely make sense. I strongly doubt IK's move to AU was to get away from RB (primarily b/c they had just married days before and his traveling to another country, separate from his partner, to start a new life, is hardly unusual). Reports that he stayed with IK in Belgium in 1971, before being arrested, I found particularly interesting. I don't think he would have stayed with her if she had already found another partner. I suspect that in 1971, IK knew nothing of DDH existence, and she returned to Belgium expecting to continue her life with RB & the baby. RB could easily maintain two relationships at once as he seems to come and go all the time. Perhaps IK wised up after his arrest, but DDH remained loyal.

 

[gymtonic]

Not relating to the latest MC TLV podcast revelations or anything, but something else that piqued my interest in the news today and that I will be watching for any connection A former bikie walked into a government-owned mint to buy gold. It didn't ask any questions

I am thinking particularly of the questions over the time that RB arrived in Australia via Perth declaring a very large amount of cash (which was subsequently “stolen“ from him at Pacific Fair).

Note the statements relating to the notoriety of the Perth Mint in connection with money laundering and the statement about gold being the easiest way to launder money. Just a hunch and JMO.

So WOW! Just WOW! ABC Four Corners “Tainted Gold”…Explosive report and so revealing. Perth Mint’s past failure to comply with money laundering laws and dodgy screening of EuroPacific Bank accounts employing techniques such as Omnibus accounts (as I understood it…whereby individual account names are lumped together thus potentially preventing screening of individuals with criminal, organised crime connections and/ or under sanctions). I don’t know…IMO if I were looking for missing money and money laundering through gold, I would be checking this out. Just sayin‘

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the transcript for those interested who are not in Oz and not able to watch on ABCiView Tainted Gold: Inside Perth Mint's billion-dollar scandal

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

The problem with this though is that it followed another MC statement that he always told stories, never told the truth and that everything that came out of his mouth was a lie! So this can hardly be used as proof eh? For me it was another “Walter Mitty” to tie in with his “secret agent” claim and make himself sound more important and threatening. I’m not saying it’s not possible or that he may tell the occasional truth…but who’s to know when that is without any corroborating evidence. It’s the evidence that we need, not what he said at some point.

Agree. I wish there had been more concrete evidence from MC and less being proud she hadn't fallen prey to him. In the end, AKA has made MC's ex-husband's life very unpleasant by sullying his name internationally! The name Remakel will forever be tied to Marion and AKA. You would think MC and the real FR would want justice in that regard. Unless they prefer not to be 100% forthcoming for their own reasons.

 

[mishy66]

So this is where I’m confused with MC she said that they were together and she realised he had a son (this was before Maite) was born she found out and she bailed out.

Why then was he sending letters to her way after that date? Wasn’t song to my testicles sent when he lived in midway point?

Or do I have my wires crossed ( so many dates and so many places)

exactly

 

[mishy66]

Yes, there are aspects of these stories that don't completely make sense. I strongly doubt IK's move to AU was to get away from RB (primarily b/c they had just married days before and his traveling to another country, separate from his partner, to start a new life, is hardly unusual). Reports that he stayed with IK in Belgium in 1971, before being arrested, I found particularly interesting. I don't think he would have stayed with her if she had already found another partner. I suspect that in 1971, IK knew nothing of DDH existence, and she returned to Belgium expecting to continue her life with RB & the baby. RB could easily maintain two relationships at once as he seems to come and go all the time. Perhaps IK wised up after his arrest, but DDH remained loyal.

no, IK stayed with him in France NOT Belgium.

 

[mishy66]

This account was from ER and IK aunt - it was in one of the newspapers.

".....when it comes to the relationship between her mother, Ilona Reid, and Mr Blum, she knows only what she has been told by family members.
Those stories are as astonishing as almost everything else that has been revealed about her father.
Ms Reid’s mother was from Hungary and migrated with her family to Belgium, where she formed a relationship with Mr Blum.
According to an aunt, her mother was wildly in love with Mr Blum, but a private investigator hired by her suspicious family “found out that he had other wives and other children”.
Ms Reid’s mother ignored her family’s warnings about Mr Blum, only to later discover for herself “how horrible he was”, the aunt said.
“The story … is that she fled Belgium to get away from him,” Ms Reid said.
“The story (the aunt) told me was of this crazy man in a Porsche on the Euro freeway where you can drive a million miles an hour, with a gun, trying to get to the boat before it sails off – and that that was him.
Not long after her mother arrived in Australia, so did Mr Blum. Her mother had met someone else on the ship....."


".......When Mr Blum first met IK he falsely represented being unmarried without children. She ( IK mother) got a private detective and she found out he had a wife and two kids...."


"........Ilona had married AKA in Belgium just days prior to leaving for a new life in Australia. IK actually requested to leave for Australia later because she was marrying AKA, so she postponed her trip ...."


".... IK then reunited with WW in LILLE in France and lived with him WITH THE BABY UNTIL just before HE WAS ARRESTED. (ONCE HE HAD RETURNED FROM AUSTRALIA AFTER HIS CRUISE ON THE CHUSAN WITH DIANE– 1971 )

(AKA arrived in Amsterdam about 14th May, 1971 and within five weeks, he was arrested in France)

This is the time IK reunites with him then leaves him again = then sometime between June 1971 and her arrival back into Aust she marries MJR in Budapest. ( WHATEVER THAT REASON IS we may never know) I would say to escape from the Monster and change her name to head back in Aust where she felt safest and had family here to support her.

BUT HE STILL MANAGED TO FIND HER = IMO


ER was born January 1970.

IK = I have a family of Reid coming out on a ship to Aust 1973

IK = working at Beales by 1974


I will say that it would be VERY easy to falsify information on a death cert if you had all the "correct documentation".....

yes that is correct - IK fled to Aust again to get away from him after they reconnected again in France @ 1971 after his boat trip with Diane.

Yes, there are aspects of these stories that don't completely make sense. I strongly doubt IK's move to AU was to get away from RB (primarily b/c they had just married days before and his traveling to another country, separate from his partner, to start a new life, is hardly unusual). Reports that he stayed with IK in Belgium in 1971, before being arrested, I found particularly interesting. I don't think he would have stayed with her if she had already found another partner. I suspect that in 1971, IK knew nothing of DDH existence, and she returned to Belgium expecting to continue her life with RB & the baby. RB could easily maintain two relationships at once as he seems to come and go all the time. Perhaps IK wised up after his arrest, but DDH remained loyal.

IK met him prior to coming out 1969 - she postpones her trip to marry him despite her family's protests that he is no good - he obviously swooned her with his BS because she was valuable to him in some way - possibly because they worked together = and she had no idea he was the monster her family saw him to be.

She leaves him in Aust once she realises what he is really like but once she returns to Belgium with her baby ER and he is already in France (AFTER GOING BACK FROM HIS CRUISE WITH DIANE), where he convinces her to come live with him IN LILLE FRANCE = she then leaves him a second time in Lille France just before he is arrested 1971.

IK returns to Aust 1973 /74

FREDDY DAVID returns to Aust for 15 days in June 1974