Why some seriously doubt the hairs used to extract DNA were not those of the Somerton Man
The hairs used by Dr Colleen Fitzpatrick and Professor Derek Abbott to identify the Somerton Man may well have been transferred to the bust’s surface as it was being carried by the police (^ pic by Advertiser) from the Adelaide morgue on June 16, the day after being completed by Paul Lawson and its plaster not fully set.
“It’s important to note that the DNA used by Professor Abbott and his team was not extracted from the body; but rather from hair fibres found on the original plaster cast bust.” Fiona-Ellis Jones, broadcast journalist.
It is within our charter to sow doubts and raise confusion …
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The Somerton Man 
Looking at the photo, I cannot believe the manner in which it appears to have been carried around, couldn’t they find a big enough box?
You could say, Clive, that one reason for a policeman to have Webb’s hair contaminating the bust is that Webb was at one time in contact with said copper and given his violent and erratic past history may have attracted their close attention while he was in Adelaide. There is one sure way to get bloodied knuckles.
Re the protruding hairs. Years back I actually had to explain this to Professor Abbott so don’t feel bad 🙂
The steps are:
1. The mold is prepared by applying a particular kind of plaster directly to the body. (FYI, the plaster type used was the type used for ‘reusable’ molds.)
2. Ok, so now we have the wet plaster in direct contact with the skin, the plaster dries pretty quickly and it would have ‘grabbed’ the hairs protruf=diung from the body such that when the outer bust was removed, the hairs that were grabbed by the plaster would be effectively protruding out of the inner lining of the bust. It is possible that some of the roots would be exposed given that it was the tips of the hair that would be captive on the inside of the bust.
3. The bust was done in two halves which were then joined together. We now have a hollow structure and if you were to peer down into the inside of it you would see the hairs popping out of the inner lining of the bust.
4. Time for the hollow bust to be filled with another kind of plaster, it is poured in carefully and as it fills up, the hairs that protrude from the inner lining of the bust
are in turn grabbed by the newly poured plaster.
5. After some drying time, the outer mold is broken away from the inner recently poured plaster mix. It is in that process that some of the hairs that protruded from the inner lining of the mold would have stayed in the outer shell but some would have been captured by the plaster in the newly formed bust, and they would be in some cases, embedded by the roots and the hair tips would be exposed
I never feel bad about your research old son, though I much prefer sensationalism ..