So, you’re new to this Somerton Man game, are you?
From the very beginning ……
1/ The coroner ruled he didn’t die where he was found. (See /29)
2/ The first policeman on the scene contradicted crucial evidence sworn to by his senior officer.
3/ There was nothing found on the body that identified him.
4/ The man who handed in the coded Rubaiyat to DS Leane was apparently not introduced to any other of the case officers nor were they given his name.
5/ In fact his name was withheld for the remainder of his life.
6/ The coded Rubaiyat was not photographed.… and it was said to have been lost by the police only days after being handed in.
7/ The phone numbers reported to have been written on the back of the coded Rubaiyat were not photographed.
8/ Jessica Harkness, a subscriber to one of the phone numbers was not asked to identify the Somerton Man from a photograph taken of his face soon after he was found (below).
9/ In fact the police were initially convinced this fellow was the Somerton Man (below).
Alf Boxall
10/ Her name was withheld for the remainder of her life.
11/ Naval Intelligence, after being asked to decipher the code were denied the opportunity to view the coded Rubaiyat itself.
12/ There is no chain of forensic evidence connecting the rootless hair found on the bust to the Somerton Man himself.
13/ The list of nine witnesses not interviewed by the police is as follows, ten if you include Prosper.
14/ The two jockeys exercising their horses on the beach accompanied by the horse’s owner and who were the first to find the body (ta Dusty).
15/ Any of the other three people in the car who were with the man who found the coded Rubaiyat on the car floor.
16/ Any of the other three people who were with the man who reported to the police that he saw a man carrying a man along the Somerton Beach foreshore the evening before the Somerton Man was found dead.
17/ It is also not apparent if any of Harkness’ near neighbours were interviewed by the police and asked if they witnessed any comings and goings of a man of similar appearance to the Somerton Man.
18/ No fingerprints were taken from any of the items in the suitcase thought to have belonged to the Somerton Man.
19/ The Tamam Shud slip was not found on the original search of the body.
20/ The man identified as Carl Charlie Webb in a family photo has more than a passing resemblance to another family member named Charlie Webb. It should be noted that Charlie Webb (not Carl) was about 5’8”.
22/ The man identified as Carl Charlie Webb in a family photo looks to be considerably shorter (at about 5’8”) than the measured height of the Somerton Man (at about 5’11”) see pic below, It should be noted that the other two men in the photo, Grandpa and Roy, were known to be about 5’8”.
23/ Nothing was found in the suitcase thought to have belonged to the Somerton Man that identified him, bar a spool of Barbour thread that matched some repairs to his clothing.
UPDATES ..
24/ Harkness’ partner, George Prosper Thomson, a second-hand car dealer who used the same phone number she did multiple times was not interviewed by the police
25/ The police decided that the subscriber of the second phone number written on the back of the coded Rubaiyat was not relevant to the case and neither the number or subscriber were disclosed.
26/ None of Harkness’ family was interviewed to ask if she was nicknamed Jestyn, neither were any of her workplace colleagues.
27/ Alf Boxall was not asked if he knew her as Jestyn, in fact when interviewed he admitted to not remembering her name at all.
28/ Despite the new and crucial evidence# that surfaced after the initial inquest adjournment, the coroner decided it was of no relevance and closed down the procedures.
29/ The coroner then changed his mind to finally rule that the `Somerton Man died where he was found, despite the body’s lividity which had expert witnesses agreeing he had died elsewhere.
30/ it is apparent that none of the code-breakers who worked on the Rubaiyat code for over seventy years realised that there was a subtle patten in each but one line, being the line crossed out.
31/ There was no explanation as to why Paul Lawson was accompanied by three detectives as he completed the bust.
# The circumstances of the finding of the coded Rubaiyat. The emergence of Harkness as a person of interest.
That should be enough to go on for anyone new to the case, so welcome to the club.
The Somerton Man .. 