What might Jessica, Alf and Estyn have in common?
MV Stirling Castle
Ask yourself .. If you were being sent back to Australia from the UK to face a court martial would it be on the same boat you came over on, the MV Stirling Castle? Bars, babes and deck quoits? Dinner at the Captain’s table, live music in the lounge, deckchairs poolside?
Estyn D. Jones may have.
Estyn? That’s a tough name to grow up with in this country. Who wants to be called that in a classroom of thirty young boofheads, it sounds like a girl’s name, Esther, and Dick. Another invitation to ridicule is to be called Dick so all a fellow can do to get out of the predicament his parents have placed him in is drop the Dick, grab the J from Jones and stick it in front of the Estyn. Then HEY PRESTO, now we have a young dude nicknamed Jestyn.
~~
1946.
Corporal ESTYN Jones posed as a Warrant Officer on MV Stirling Castle on a voyage from Australia to England in March 1946 arriving in the UK in April. This impersonation was deemed an offence and Jones was committed to a Court Martial and sent back to be tried in Keswick South Australia for this and other alleged offences.
Then …. in October of the same year.
Jessica Harkness became pregnant (give or take a week or two)
Alf Boxall arrived home on leave.
and ….
Estyn Jones’ Court Martial commenced in KESWICK SA. re alleged offences committed on MV Stirling Castle, amongst others, all of which were dismissed.
We know he was back at Hampstead, Adelaide by 19 Aug 1946, the court martial papers seem to suggest that he had arrived back in Adelaide only a few days previously. The Stirling Castle had docked in Sydney from 20 Jun to 29 Jun and from 2 Oct to 9 Oct in 1946.
All of this probably doesn’t amount to much other than a chain of coincidences, but I like it, a lot.
And I like even better the way Jones signed off his E for Estyn. The J in Jones looks likely as well but I’m no expert.
Now he’s buried in the same cemetery as Jessica. Not to mention he lived in Henley Beach and that’s where Webb was headed.
Thanks Clive ..
The Somerton Man 
Absolutely NOTHING
Jessica was a Lier, Fraud, and a Fantasist
Glen, mate … you may be right, but let’s not scare the horses, ok?
She didn’t speak Russian either. When $$$ are at play the Russian bumps up the price. It’s all one big con Pete.
There’s no doubt she conned the cops, played them like a violin by being hard enough to keep silent despite being monstered by 3 detectives in the morgue, and later, holding it all back when interviewed by Feltus, who had more than a couple of villains under his belt.
Kate Thomson conned 60 minutes with her garbage and the $20k she got. Carl Webb was a regular nobody. Gerry Feltus has made $$$ with his book. Kate with 60 minutes. Derek and Rachel with their newspapers articles. It’s all one big fraud to make money.
Don’t fully agree … Abbott gambled everything on Webb’s ears, Feltus sold as many books as I did, Kate appeared and disappeared like a white whale .. and Carl Webb was missing for years … Meanwhile, most folks are believing the mystery is all done and dusted.
And all the funding Derek got from the University running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Back that statement up .. or are you just guessing?
It would be inaccurate to call Derek a polarising figure as that would suggest that people either love or loath him whereas it seems the man is universally despised. Ive never cared either way nor do I have any real opinion on the man but am somewhat curious as to why he comes in for the level of flack that he does. Maybe he’s a complete flog, Can anyone enlighten me?
In short because he seems to use his title to imply expertise that isn’t there. Oh and many people think inserting himself into the story is a bit off.
He’s also used a lot of Uni resources – from having post-grads analysing the code, to enaging Henneberg to offer opinion on faces to probably using Uni labs – in fact I think there are still pages about SM (totally unrelated to the work his grad students did) that are hosted at eleceng.adelaide.edu.au.
He also just comes across as a bit of a knob.
Well, he may have his faults, but he did turn up at Paul Lawson’s funeral last year, just before the service started. He avoided Gerry Feltus, who also attended.
Yes Clive I remember the premiere of the doco in Adelaide a couple of years ago when GF spent the whole night trying to be at the opposite side of the room from Derick and Rachel
Looking back, I wish I had had the chance to have a chat with DA, but he was keeping away from GF. and, busy talking with Paul’s relatives.. Pity both DA & GF can’t settle their differences, shake hands and just call a truce.
Per Alf Boxall, the visits to the Clifton Gardens Hotel ‘were sudden and swift’, ‘not really arranged’ etc. but, Jessie managed to give Alf a copy of the Rubaiyat on their second meeting, so who organised these sudden drink meetings, Alf, or one of his army friends? Seems strange that Alf, barely knew Jessie, but she sure had her file on him when Det. Canney knocked on her door 4 years later. Was it just Alf who received a copy of the Rubaiyat from Jessie, or were there others too? If it was only Alf-why?
…. and here’s Gerry Feltus having a cup of tea and chat with her, and she knows he’s got all the details of her relationship with Boxall yet she clams up, same as she did thirty years earlier when she was looking at Lawson’s bust of Carl Webb. What was that woman up to?
And, as far as we know, Prosper was never questioned, either about his possible involvement or, Jessie’s involvement. After speaking to Jessie, did no one in the police investigation think it was very strange that she knew all about Alf, his address, what he did in WW2 etc; when they only met a couple of times for drinks? Or, did Jessie speak to one of Alf’s service friends for that info, as she ‘wanted to keep in touch’ with him?
Occam’s razor leads me to suggest this.
Jessie was young, Alf was handsome, she got a bit fixed on him and found out more about him. She may have spent more time dreaming about Alf than actual time spent in his company. Gave him a book of poetry with a message inscribed to reveal she admired him. She still remembers him years later, but Alf has to scratch his head to recall her.