Small Matters Of Little Consequence.

SM left his suitcase at the baggage counter and bought a one-way ticket from Adelaide Station to Henley Beach, meaning he had no plans to return to collect the bag when he bought the ticket.

SM then changed his travel plans and took a bus to Glenelg, not bothering to collect his suitcase.

So, if he planned to stay overnight somewhere he would have had slept in his clothes.

~~

Professor Cleland apparently made no comment as to why fingerprint wizard James Durham wasn’t asked to lift some prints from the articles in the suitcase, many of them no doubt would have yielded good results. Instead he set himself the task of matching the clothing worn on the body with that found in the suitcase.

He put on SM’s double-breasted coat and found it buttoned up with some difficulty. He had the same trouble with the sports-coat found in the suitcase. He said the sleeves of the sports-coat were not as long as those on the double-breasted coat and the coat itself was smaller as well.

Cleland concluded that for a smaller chested and abdominal man than himself, the coat on the body might have been too large and the one in the suitcase too small.

SM was 5’11” and had a very well developed upper body according to Paul Lawson, that being so it would seem that the sportscoat may have been a very tight fit.

~~

Witness Lyons thought SM was drunk the evening before the morning he was found dead.

Witness Strapps didn’t see him move his feet that same evening but did notice they had changed position.

Witness Strapps disagreed with DS Leane with regard to the type of trousers being worn by SM in the evening and those found on the body the next morning.

~~

Nobody came forward to say they had seen a drunk arriving at the beach in the early evening.

Nobody came forward to say they had seen a drunk leaving the beach later that evening.

Nobody came forward to say they had sold a drunk a pasty that same evening.

Nobody came forward to say they had seen a drunk returning to the beach later that night.

~~

PC Moss said it was a pleasant evening and the beach would have been busy.

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Witness PC Moss disagreed with DS Leane when he said matches were found on the body.

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The Freeman Rubaiyat was never photographed. The torn page was never photographed. The phone number written on the back cover of the Rubaiyat was never photographed. Gerry Feltus could only find two people who said they saw the book, both were un-named.

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SM had no money in his pockets, no ration card, no luggage stub. No watch on his wrist.

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Despite being a person of interest, Jessica Harkness wasn’t asked to make a statement and neither was Chemist Freeman.

~~

Coroner Cleland adjourned the inquest to await further developments yet despite the handing in of the Freeman  Rubaiyat and identification of the person whose phone number was written on the back cover he closed it down, reversing his initial finding that SM died elsewhere only to rule he died where he was found.