Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #20

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

Do banks destroy records after a certain amount of time has passed ?

I may have mentioned this before. It relates to my elderly relative who died 20 years ago who was befriended and fleeced in his final 2 years. When I made an enquiry around 2019 the major UK bank said it only held records for 6 years. I sent a complaint and low and behold it then sent me bank statements going back to the two years leading up to his death. I sent that evidence to the Police who said due to the time lapse they wouldn’t do anything. See it’s not just Australia!! But Banks do hold archives. They just don’t want you to know.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I may have mentioned this before. It relates to my elderly relative who died 20 years ago who was befriended and fleeced in his final 2 years. When I made an enquiry around 2019 the major UK bank said it only held records for 6 years. I sent a complaint and low and behold it then sent me bank statements going back to the two years leading up to his death. I sent that evidence to the Police who said due to the time lapse they wouldn’t do anything. See it’s not just Australia!! But Banks do hold archives. They just don’t want you to know.

@LordPeterWimsey

I wanted to use three emoticons at the same time
The shocked, angry and sad that the perp got away with it.

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

@LordPeterWimsey

I wanted to use three emoticons at the same time
The shocked, angry and sad that the perp got away with it.

Thank you Tootsie. It’s one of the reasons I have a deep loathing for scammers and con men although in this case it was a much younger woman. To make matters worse my elderly relative had cancer so she knew he didn’t have long to go. It paid for her wedding and new house later that year which I discovered many years after.

It’s a very long story but it all came about because nobody in the family knew the informant on his Death Certificate and just left it like that, but being the inquisitive person I am I thought I would look back. Enquiries starting with an Undertaker led me to her. She gave him a Pauper’s funeral where the hospital where he died had to pay for it. Shocking really but I didn’t have the resources to take it further and like Marion’s sisters some in my family said let it go. What is done is done.

It’s why the Marion case means a lot to me.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Anybody can be scammed.
I remember when I was first married, my then husband saw an ad in a magazine.

It was for a coathanger making machine. He showed me the ad and said it would be a good idea to buy it and we could sell the coathangers for less, because we made them.

I looked at the ad and I said it seems a bit fishy that there's no photo of the machine and no description of it.
And the price seemed scary to me.

Anyway I was scoffed at, so I shut up

A few weeks later this flat box arrived. I couldn't figure out what it could possibly be ?

It only dawned on us when we saw it.

A board with three nails It wasn't funny at the time though.

I said nothing, and he said nothing and it was never spoken of again

 

[M0nnyka]

Do we know tall Marion was and how much she weighed?

168 cm (5 ft 6 in

 

[RingoStarr]

168 cm (5 ft 6 in

I'm 168 cm (5ft 6 in)

Where are we going with this.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I'm 168 cm (5ft 6 in)

Where are we going with this.

Maybe it's something to do with how tall the bank teller thought the woman she took to be Marion was ?

 

[ruby925]

I made a note ages ago that Marion’s sister Dierdre received the postcard postmarked 30 August Tonbridge. I remember there was a lot of discussion about it on here, but it was a long time ago. I don’t know that the postcard was blank, I think it might have been that the contents was not shared.

Sally's post on FB 15Jun had info on the postmarks of the postcards and letter from Marion, decoded for when processed etc. There is no mention on SL's post of any outstanding anomalies such as cards processed a month after MB's return to Aus, so I had thought the scenario of someone else sending cards had been discounted. JMO

 

[Housemartyn]

Maybe it's something to do with how tall the bank teller thought the woman she took to be Marion was ?

I just wondered if she was small enough to be transported in a wooden crate or suitcase. It's just my opinion - I feel fairly convinced she was poisoned and removed from her hotel room.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I just wondered if she was small enough to be transported in a wooden crate or suitcase. It's just my opinion - I feel fairly convinced she was poisoned and removed from her hotel room.

It does seem to be a way of moving a body.
I don't like to say it but sometimes the body has been "made to fit"

 

[Mrs_Vee]

Yes it seems Evelyn legally has the same initials as her mum, Ilona - IEJR formerly IEJW. I wonder if there is more to this or has RB somehow used this to his advantage? Given the FNR initials with regards to Marions name change. The mind boggles!

JMO......

Think you’re on to something there @BabeBlues

 

[Kie22]

How do you know what ID MB had on her?

Sadly, I believe MB’s demise likely happened shortly after her return to Australia after suffering ‘flu like symptoms’ - ‘blurred vision’ It’s possible she remained in bed for a week or so AKA keeps in contact by phone (he’s doing important business and can’t see her at this time - the truth being home with family) Vehicle is purchased - she is collected from the Novotel, Brisbane, then taken to the optometrist in Grafton to placate the fear of her illness and blurred vision - this is on their way to his promised sprawling acreage mansion in Nymboida, 30 minutes from Grafton, where she never left the vacant red gum treed acreage.

2 days later the withdrawals begin…

Therefore only one extra player is required. The woman doing the withdrawals. Someone close who has been coercively controlled for years.

No hit man in the UK. No person outside of family using MB’s FR passport. It’s neat, clean, and quietly executed.

I think this is a realistic scenario, sad and tragic as it is.

As I understand it the only real last proof of MB being alive is the phone call she made to SL, and that was probably only made because RB had left on his flight and she was able to call without him in the background. What a shame she didn't tell her then more about what was really going on. I'm certain if she could see now all the pain and heartache SL, Owen and others have gone through since she would be devastated. Despite the nonsense put about that she wanted nothing to do with her family, I believe she cared about them deeply. This is in no way to victim blame; MB obviously had no clue who the person she was romantically involved with really was and could never have imagined the outcome. Who amongst us wouldn't do things differently with hindsight?

My learning from this is to tell my daughters/granddaughters to always let someone know, truthfully, where you are and what you're doing and, if they tell me, I promise I'll listen with empathy, won't judge or betray their confidence. No matter how safe you think you are, secrecy is the gift to people who have evil intent.

 

[Housemartyn]

Distressing to realise that this monster was flagged up 50 years ago and nobody followed it up. Nobody did anything at all. It's very upsetting. Poor Marion. Poor Sally. Majorly let down. Why?

 

[Lord Peter Flimsy]

It does seem to be a way of moving a body.
I don't like to say it but sometimes the body has been "made to fit"

This is a guy who allegedly buried someone alive and mentioned a similar story regarding the Vietnam War. It might be a case of bravado but there is also the disturbing thought that when he did see Marion last she was still alive.

 

[Kie22]

Distressing to realise that this monster was flagged up 50 years ago and nobody followed it up. Nobody did anything at all. It's very upsetting. Poor Marion. Poor Sally. Majorly let down. Why?

Yes, shocking lack of concern and due diligence by the agencies involved with him over the years.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Distressing to realise that this monster was flagged up 50 years ago and nobody followed it up. Nobody did anything at all. It's very upsetting. Poor Marion. Poor Sally. Majorly let down. Why?

too many “devils advocates” suggesting it might have been by choice.

 

[Bibno]

Sally's post on FB 15Jun had info on the postmarks of the postcards and letter from Marion, decoded for when processed etc. There is no mention on SL's post of any outstanding anomalies such as cards processed a month after MB's return to Aus, so I had thought the scenario of someone else sending cards had been discounted. JMO

Now you mention it, I have a vague recollection of it being subsequently discounted and the fact that is hasn’t been mentioned recently suggests it’s a red herring.

 

[ruby925]

Now you mention it, I have a vague recollection of it being subsequently discounted and the fact that is hasn’t been mentioned recently suggests it’s a red herring.

Self adhesive stamps were first introduced in 1993 in UK, but these were for books of 20 First class, ie not International. If there was a dodgy post card sent after MB's return to Aus and the stamp had been licked to activate the glue, today's forensics might be able to extract DNA...JMO obvs.

 

[Martinie]

It's crazy that we don't have an archive of unidentified deceased bodies that we can recreate what their facial features would have looked like when they were alive. It would make searching for her much easier and you can narrow down when the unidentified body was found and what location...

 

[riddlesandpuzzles77]

I just wondered if she was small enough to be transported in a wooden crate or suitcase. It's just my opinion - I feel fairly convinced she was poisoned and removed from her hotel room.

Goodness..... this helps me with my theory of the tea chests having some vital piece of the puzzle and why mr Blum bothered mentioning them at all, thanks housemartyn.