So, you’re new to this Somerton Man game, are you?
From the very beginning ……
The coroner ruled he didn’t die where he was found.
The first policeman on the scene contradicted crucial evidence sworn to by his senior officer.
(Check comment by Dusty here ..)
There was nothing found on the body that identified him.
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.
In fact his name was withheld for the remainder of his life.
The coded Rubaiyat was not photographed.… and it was said to have been lost by the police only days after being handed in.
The phone numbers reported to have been written on the back of the coded Rubaiyat were not photographed.
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).
In fact the police were initially convinced this fellow was the Somerton Man (below).
Her name was withheld for the remainder of her life.
Naval Intelligence, after being asked to decipher the code were denied the opportunity to view the coded Rubaiyat itself.
There was no chain of forensic evidence connecting the rootless hair found on the bust to the Somerton Man himself.
The list of witnesses not interviewed by the police is as follows:
Any of the other three people in the car who were with the man who found the coded Rubaiyat on the car floor.
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 he was found dead.
No fingerprints were taken from any of the items in the suitcase thought to have belonged to the Somerton Man.
The Tamam Shud slip was not found on the original search of the body.
The man identified as Carl Charlie Webb in a family photo has more than a passing resemblance to another family member named Charlie Webb.
That should be enough to go on for anyone new to the case, so welcome to the club.
The Somerton Man .. 
..and then there were the two hoops who were first on the death scene, plus the horse owner Col. Jim Lee, none of whom were interviewed by attending scene Sapol officers or ever after.
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….perhaps young Neil Day, Horrie Patching the seasoned Jockey and Melbourne Cup owner Jim Lee each gave their statements to first offending Sapol detective on the scene Sgt. Strangway, but if so, Harry kept it to himself which is somewhat strange in a way too.
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I suppose you can understand it, if a couple of witnesses were overlooked by the police but, not on this scale surely? The “Higher Authority” that Jessie told her daughter were certainly quick off the block, and the reason……?
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All at the very time MI5 rolled up to relieve the local police of their Federal responsibilities .. in other words, whoever in SAPOL was handling enquiries that had international implications was relieved of his current tasks, this has to be a consideration.
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Jim (Arthur James) Lee was elected to serve on the Australian Commonwealth Immigration Advisory Council under A. Calwell post 1946; So one might reasonably assume “international implications” be part of his then agenda; that along with his SA state RSL leadership duties etc.
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