JESTYN'S STORY: PART 1. THE BEGINNINGS, UPDATE #2

 

Based on newly emerged information,  we now have a much clearer idea of where and when Jessica Harkness first acquired the name JESTYN.

In the end, the story of Jestyn turns out to be relatively straightforward but for all of the reasons it had become entangled in myth, misunderstanding and pure guesswork.  As you might expect, this discovery has an impact on much earlier posts about this name.

ORIGINS OF THE NAME JESTYN

Let's take a quick look at the origins of the name.

The name JESTYN is the English version of the Welsh name IESTYN ( Pronounced YESTYN). The Welsh Alphabet has 29 letters with the letter J in welsh being a 'borrowed' letter in that is used mostly in English words such as Jurist. It is to be found in the name of a small village in Angelsey, North Wales, called LLANIESTYN which is home to a Church named after  St. Iestyn who lived in the 7th Century. There is a second Church in the Welsh County of Gwynedd bearing the same name. The man, Iestyn, is said to have been descended from Royalty who once ruled in Cornwall. Iestyn was a confessor and a man of great standing in Welsh history although his named day, October 10th, is no longer celebrated.

There doesn't immediately appear to be a connection between the name Jestyn and why it was chosen by or for Jessica in her dealings with Alf Boxall and Tom Musgrave.

THE NEW INFORMATION

Recently, as followers of this blog will know, the time has been spent reviewing two NAA files dealing with the 1977 ABC TV, INSIDE STORY, programme hosted by Stuart Littlemore. ( The Executive Producer was Murray Travis). Amongst the copious and detailed documents was a note dealing with discussions Stuart had with TOM MUSGRAVE, a fellow officer to Alf Boxall, both serving in the same unit. In fact, both men were present at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in September 1944 when a lady, who said her name was JOY IRWIN, introduced her girlfriend who she called Jestyn, to ALF BOXALL. It was to be 12 months before JESTYN presented ALF BOXALL with the book containing the inscription, Verse 70.

CONFIRMED: Stuart Littlemore in his notes specifically mentions 1944 as the year that Jestyn was introduced. He further confirmed this date in his questions to the RNSH, the year 1944 was key.

This then answers the question, just where and when was the name JESTYN first used?

Stuart Littlemore Notes:

UPDATE #2

This post is saying that there were two meetings, the initial meeting took place in 1944 and the subsequent meeting was when the Rubaiyat with the inscription was given to Alf prior to his going overseas in September 1945.

Here's some supporting information, it takes the form of a question that Stuart Littlemore asked Alf regarding his being with an Intelligence Unit, it's from the Inside Story part 2 documents. (Page 124):

1. Stuart refers to Alf having worked with an intelligence unit, 'just before you came to Sydney and met the girl at the Clifton Gardens hotel'   
2. According to Alf's service record, he left his duties with the North Australia Observer Unit, which had Intelligence gathering amongst its activities, in March 1944 and was posted to NSW May 1st 1944. The meeting took place just after Alf arrived in Sydney. That gives us the year of the first meeting as being 1944.
3. Moving on to what is believed to be the second meeting, and again according to Alf's service record, he was to go overseas in September 1945. 
4. According to the accounts within the Inside Story documents, Jestyn gave the copy of the Rubaiyat with the Verse 70 inscription to Alf because he was going overseas, this would infer that it was 1945 when he was given the book because it was in September 1945 that Alf went to Moresby.

So, according to the documents, Jestyn met Alf in 1944 just after he had moved to Sydney from the Northern Territory and the NAOU. 

It was approximately 12 months later, August 1945, that, what was said to be the second meeting took place, again at the Clifton Gardens Hotel and that is when the book was handed over to Alf. Alf's records show that he was in Australia from March 1944 to September 1945.

Alf's friend, Tom Musgrave, also spent time in the Northern Territory and, whilst being an engineer, he underwent Bomb Disposal training during his time in the army. He is shown as being in NSW for the period commencing late 1943 to 1945, ceasing full-time service in October 1945.

Just why was the timing of these events important? The answer to that is not going to be found in part 2 of this post but in the weeks ahead a lot more will hopefully be revealed.

There are more questions yet to be answered, Part 2 of this post will follow shortly.

This was the first time that the name JESTYN appears anywhere in the documents surrounding the Somerton Man case.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, the name JESTYN was never used at any time as a nickname by JESSICA HARKNESS.

SOMERTON MAN CODE CRACKED, DECRYPT FOR CROSS LINE AB

 

DECRYPT X LINE=AB

=TOM TUE WP IPLOUE

The crossed lines in the centre of the page are shown above, this is an image taken in mid-November 2020.

Our focus is on the upper long line which, for the purpose of this exercise, has been named AB.

One of the issues that arise a number of times in many of the decrypts is the presence of the letter X. In the line AB, the sequence of letters and numbers is as follows:

V22X2JYX223487H244XC7AAR2X249M28784VN8322258PCA 

Historically, the letter X is used in clandestine communications as a delineator, it marks the end of a group and therefore the beginning of a new group. This is especially the case when there is a long single string of code letters and numbers which is what we have here.

Bear in mind that what we are looking for is a string of at least two consecutive meaningful words or names and then hopefully a recognisable acronym

To test this theory, the full string including the letters X, was put through the decoder using the HILL cipher as the tool. It came up with nothing close to a string of names/words/acronyms. From 1000 lines of decrypted output all we found were three or four instances where a 3 letter word cropped up in isolation.

So, the next job was to remove the Xs as we have done here:

V222JY223487H244C7AAR2249M28784VN8322258PCA

This string was then put into the decoder and again using the HILL cipher. and this was the result:

Text entered:

Decrypt:

 
This was the only line in 1000 decrypted options that showed up more than one recognisable words or a name. In this case we have:

TOM TUE (Tuesday) WP (Acronym, Workers Party) IPLOUE

There we have one name, TOM, a recognisable short form of the word TUESDAY and a recognisable acronym WP for WORKERS PARTY.

Apparently, this was an appointment with TOM, it was to be held on TUESDAY and the inference is that either TOM was from the WP, WORKERS PARTY which was a valid organisation associated with the Communist Party of Australia and the then Labour Party in the 1940s, or the meeting was about the Workers Party. The rest of the string has numerous acronym options IPLOUE, still examining that aspect.

Petedavo, if you're around this fine but rainy Christmas Eve, your input would be welcome as would the input of any other interested parties.

As a sign-off, I wish everyone a Safe and Happy Christmas/ To those in the UK, Europe or the US, these would be extraordinarily difficult times, best wishes, thoughts and prayers go out for you all.
May next year, 2021 bring better conditions for everyone.

Keep Safe. Keep Well.

ALF BOXALL: BODY LANGUAGE REVEALS THE TRUTH? PLUS A SUMMATION...

BODY LANGUAGE 

In the video above, Stuart Littlemore asks Alf Boxall a number of probing questions; an art that Mr. Littlemore has perfected in his years as a Barrister.

Of particular interest though are Alf''s responses. Not so much what he says but his involuntary reactions by way of his body language, specifically, his blinking.

Here's an article,2008, from the Daily Telegraph: 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2589073/Liars-are-exposed-by-blinking.html

So, when telling an untruth, people tend not to blink but immediately afterwards there's a flurry of blinks.

Now watch the video of Alf's interview, in particular at the following points in the clip:

1. At 3 Minutes 24 seconds into the clip followed by multiple blinks

2. At 3 minutes 30 seconds in and followed by a very rapid series of blinks

3. At 6 minutes 20 seconds mark, comment about his involvement in an Intelligence unit, a continuous and steady flow of blinks followed his answer.

I'd like to be clear about this and my view of Alf Boxall:

• He was involved to a significant extent in the case
• He was involved in training people in the art of espionage specifically coding and concealment techniques as supported by the revelations of concealed code in the book given to him by Jestyn 12 months after their first meeting
• In the years 1944 to 1948/9, the intelligence services as such were fragmented, ASIO did not exist and the brunt of the work fell to Australian Military Intelligence as the major provider of such services.
• The immediate post-war years were extremely dangerous ones for Australia with an ever-present threat from the Soviets aided by their satellite organisation, The Communist Party of Australia, 

Alf had a job to do, it may not have always been pleasant but he did things that had to be done.

A SUMMARY

In the last few posts, we have examined some of the issues surrounding Jestyn and Alf. A number of interesting things have been gleaned from that examination:

1. It seems that Musgraves girlfriend, Joy, was the first person to mention the name 'Jestyn' when she introduced her to Alf Boxall at their first meeting at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in September 1944
2. Whilst, in the notes record of the ABC 'Inside Story' Programme files, Alf stated he did not recall her name, the book with the inscription that Jestyn had given him, was later shown to have been signed by 'Jestyn'. 
3. Not all of the recorded sessions for the Inside Story were played to air, but the record of what was said and by whom were, in the main, meticulously kept
4. On the issue of the book, note that the image of the page containing the inscription, the 'Jestyn' signature had been covered up, for no apparent reason.
5. It was quite telling that Musgrave declined to be interviewed, he was asked but it did not transpire.
6. There were a number of instances when you would have thought, Stuart Littlemore could have pursued Alf with more vigour, he did not and in some cases, he didn't pursue him at all when it would have clearly been justified. 

NO NUMBER 70 AND JESTYN'S SIGNATURE COVERED UP:

Just what do we get from this information?

I think that, based on what we now know for certain, we can safely conclude that Alf,  Tom Musgrave, Joy and Jestyn and probably others who were there the night of that first meeting, were all involved in Military Intelligence work and that the second meeting almost 12 months later, was the conclusion of a training course. The undeniable presence of concealed codes in the 'verse 70' book, the torn piece bearing the words 'TAMAM SHUD' and in the Somerton Man Code page, clearly corroborates this statement.

As always, there's more yet to be told and in the upcoming 3 months, there will be a number of more, fascinating, posts.

In the interim, here's a link to a site that has some useful information:

https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/view-discuss/audio-recovering-australian-war-dead-fromelles

JOY ERWIN AND JESTYN,TWO FALSE NAMES, PLUS ONE

 

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

On the first occasion that Alf Boxall met Jestyn at the Clifton Gardens Hotel, she was with another girl who was also introduced as a nurse. 

This girl accompanied Tom Musgrave and her name was said by Tom to be JOY ERWIN or IRVIN. There was no surname given for the girl 'Jestyn'.

Stuart Littlemore in his notes described the discussions with Tom Musgrave and how he, Stuart, had followed up on both names with the RNSH, no match was found for either Joy or Jestyn as graduates or in the Register of nurses. (An interesting aside is that Jess Harkness did not complete her training as a Nurse until the early 1950s.)

So, what do we have here? Two girls accompanying two army officers on a happenstance meeting at the Clifton Gardens Hotel. Both girls were using false names or so it would appear.

This was at a time when Alf had been recalled from Brisbane to set up training at Rushcutters Bay, Alf set about recruiting various people at that time.

Knowing what we now know about Alf's copy of the Rubaiyat and the presence of microcode on both the inscription page and the title page in such a way that you could only describe that book, handed to Alf by Jestyn some 12 months after their first meeting on yet another happenstance occasion, as a training manual in concealment and code techniques.

ON THE SUBJECT OF NAMES

Another name, this time this name was found on the back of the recovered Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, that name is KING. Posted this find back in 2016.

Here's the full post:

http://tamamshud.blogspot.com/2016/01/somerton-man-name-found-on-code-page.html#comment-form

ALF BOXALL : JESTYN HAD 'GREAT COURAGE, TREMENDOUS COURAGE' UPDATED 5.04 pm

GREAT COURAGE

There are a number of things that don't quite gel with the interview of Alf Boxall with Stuart Littlemore in 1977 and the image above is just one of them.

Here's another, how would Alf explain this? Here you can see a microcode written into the fold-over of the cover of the Rubaiyat that also contains the inscription from Verse 70.

If you look carefully down the left-hand side of the book cover, you'll see numerous other examples of code, super small and very cleverly done. Alf knew it was there and that can be proven.

A question is, was this a special-purpose book? Published but not printed by the Australasian Book Publishing Company? How else would the code have been written over the rough pattern on the book cover?

ABC TV, INSIDE STORY, THE LITTLEMORE INTERVIEW

The program itself went to air in August 1978, it was the culmination of a great deal of work by ABC staff and Stuart Littlemore. More than 11,500 feet of film was taken but by the time it reached our screens, there were just 1125 feet. Some heavy editing which of course did and probably still does happen but in a different manner with today's technology. the question is, what was cut out?

The image at the top of the page is a clipping from the NAA file, it is part of the transcript of what was actually said in the Boxall interview before the editing took place. 

'GREAT COURAGE, TREMENDOUS COURAGE' 

Quite a statement when you think about it, here's Alf an Army Lieutenant who has already stated that he was in Intelligence, met this young girl just twice, once in August 1944 and then again 12 months later when she gave him a book, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, with an inscription. It had been handwritten into the book by the nurse who he states was known as Jestyn, at least that is how the inscription was signed off. How could he have arrived at that conclusion with no more than 2, very brief, meetings that have taken place? The notes 'stumble' over a few words of explanation when the comment was worth more than that.

In another part of the unedited transcript, Alf refers to not having bothered to have bought a copy of the 'paper book'. What's interesting about that statement is that no one had mentioned what kind of book the Somerton Man copy of the ROK was as far as I can ascertain. How would Alf have known that?

THE VERSE 70 INSCRIPTION PAGE

The image above is taken from the Youtube video copy of the ABC programme. There are two immediate differences that you should be able to see, here's the comparison image for you to assess:

The image above, taken some years after the Littlemore interview, clearly shows the number '70' to the left of the page and you can also see that in the interview pic, the signed-off name, Jestyn, has been covered up. The dark line that separates the two pages is just visible in the interview image. That dark line we now know to contain microcode.

Here's the video of the Alf Boxall interview, best viewed in full-screen mode:

 

AND ANOTHER THING (OR THREE) ....

There are a number of other questions that arise from the video and Littlemore's copy of the files, here are just three of them:

1. The second meeting at the Clifton Gardens Hotel took place in August 1945 according to the Adelaide University wiki. Yet in the notes, Mrs. Boxall states that Alf had given her the copy of the book in June 1945.

2. Again in the notes Alf talks about 3 instructors apart from himself being present at the second meeting, he doesn't name them but we assume that one would have been Tom Musgrave. Another may have been a George French. George was stationed with Alf but George wasn't a mechanical engineer of any kind. George was with Signals, he gets a brief mention in the Littlemore notes and you can look him up on NAA, not much there just a two-page summary of service.

3. The Littlemore team deliberately left out Alf's description of Jestyn being 'Courageous', the notes don't even show whether or not he pursued that line. Any investigator would have jumped on that in a trice. Mr. Littlemore was a very experienced and knowledgeable man.

WHAT CAN WE CONCLUDE?

We can readily conclude that the number 70 was put in place after the Littlemore interview, it also contains a microcode so we can reasonably conclude that Alf put it there. Ipso Facto, Alf was linked to the SM code page, it also contains the same style of code.

Throughout the interview, Alf seemed ill at ease to an extent, with lots of blinking and hesitations except when, in the notes at least, he made the 'Courageous' statement. Interestingly he was confident enough to let Stuart Littlemore handle the book knowing full well what its true contents were.

Had the 'meeting' in August 1945 actually been a graduation event? Had Jestyn and others present, been attending a course of some kind and not associated with Nursing? Would that be a reasonable assumption?

Some more images to be added here shortly.

LINKS:

Title: The Somerton Beach Story [Box 39]

Series number: C673

Control symbol: INSIDE STORY PART 1

Item barcode: 7937871

A description of this record can be viewed here.



Title: The Somerton Beach Story [Box 39]

Series number: C673

Control symbol: INSIDE STORY PART 2

Item barcode: 7937872

A description of this record can be viewed here.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT? UPDATED 10th DECEMBER 2020, 2 NEW PHOTOS

1. PHOTO OF THE BEACH AND LOCATION OF THE BODY SHOWING THE TIDE ACTION:

What's most interesting about this photo is, of course, the action of the tide and just how close into where the sea wall was in late 1948. You might just make out the X that marks the spot. I do not know exactly when this pic was taken but I will endeavour to find out.

It was from the Littlemore NAA file so it may date to 1977 but it could be earlier. If this wasn't a particularly high tide as it was on the night of November 30th/December 1st 1948, then it could be that the tide on that night being at 8 feet, would have swamped the area where the body was found at around 4.30 am. but then receded. That of course has implications as to when the body might have been placed there? 

2. Second Pic slightly different perspective:

The ranges in the distance look further away in this shot taken from a similar location as the previous photo. Cameras do funny things to perspectives and aspects.

A step by step account of how and when this man died..

Our concern is not the lead up to the events during the day of 30th November so much as it is the events of the night, 30th November to 1st December 1948 in Somerton.

With many thanks to Clive and to a fellow commenter and researcher for their input. It has been invaluable as usual.

1. The man was spotted about twilight, around 7.30 pm on the evening of 30th November 1948. A local Jeweller and his wife saw him lying with his head and shoulders propped up against the low sea wall near to some steps down to the beach that led down from The Esplanade just about opposite the Crippled Children's Home. The man was also seen by a young couple who were seated just a few yards away to the man's left and slightly above and behind him. There was another unknown person who was seen to be watching the man from the roadway above.

2. The known witnesses had left the scene by 8 pm, there is no record of when the other watcher moved away.

3. It was now dark and we believe that at sometime between 8 pm and 11 pm, the man was removed from his location on the beach. He was a big man, he would possibly have had to have been subdued and then manhandled from his position against the wall.

This photograph is from the 1948 Sands & Macdougall Glenelg Street Directory,. You can see the various huts dotted along the beach right out to the small promontory which is situated on the North end of the Esplanade in Somerton.

4. Not often discussed is the presence of a number of beach huts along the beach/shoreline between Glenelg and Somerton Beach, it is possible that the man was taken to one of those huts where he was later given his massive overdose of Digitalis. Alternatively, he was taken up to the roadway above the beach location, bundled into a car and taken to another location, possibly a nearby house and the drug or drugs administered there. The scratched knuckles on the man's left hand may have been the result of the struggle to get him away from the beach.

5. We now need to consider and work backwards from the time the body of the man was examined by at the hospital by Dr. Bennett. According to him, the man had died no more than 8 hours before he examined the body at approximately 9.45 a.m. on 1st December 1948.

6. We also know from a copy of a 2010 Autopsy report on the body of a man who had committed suicide with a massive overdose of Digitalis, that death occurs 1 hour after the ingestion of the overdose. (More from this document later in this post)

7. Having established a timeframe, we can now make a reasonable assumption that the man took the drugs between 12.30 am and 2.30 am on 1st December 1948.

8. That puts his time of death at between 1.30 am and 3.30 am on 1st December 1948.

9. Following his death, it is further assumed that the man was cleaned up removing traces of vomit and blood, he was then dressed in the clothes that they found him wearing but quite possibly the trousers were changed. This would have added, say, a further 1 hour to the process.

This image, taken in 1948, was given to me by a lady whose parents were in the original photograph and she asked for them to be removed. This lady is a long-time resident of Glenelg. The image was taken close to the Ferris Avenue junction with The Esplanade.  To the right you can see the Crippled Children's Home as arrowed and also arrowed is a diagonal ramp down from The Esplanade. The ramp shared a common entrance from The Esplanade with a similar diagonal ramp that led down to a location near to where the Somerton Man was found which is closer to Bickford Terrace. See the next image and map below.

In this image believed to have been taken in 1944, you can see a down ramp arrowed

to the left.

10. Working with our assumed timeframe, we think that the man's body was taken back to the beach where he had been seen the previous evening. Again, being a big man and this time a dead weight, the task would have taken at least 2 people. In fact, you may consider that a 3rd person would have been needed as a lookout during the move.

11. That timeframe would mean that he was taken back to the same location on Somerton Beach after 2.30 am and before daylight om 1st December 1948.

12 A part smoked cigarette was placed in his mouth to give the impression that he had smoked it there and added to the illusion that he hadn't been moved.

'Any fool can commit a murder but it takes an artist to commit a perfect natural death'

More to follow...

THE SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY: THE CODE ACT 3, THE VERSE 70 INSCRIPTION, UPDATED WITH INK REMOVAL TUTORIAL

 

VERSE 70 INSCRIPTION
THE ALF BOXALL/JESTYN 
RUBAIYAT

The following images provide in some detail, the incredible skill of the person who wrote the Verse 70 inscription found in the Alf Boxall copy of the Rubaiyat. These images from the Boxall book provides evidence that links Alf Boxall, Jess Harkness, and the Somerton Man. It confirms the view that this blog has held since the outset that the Somerton Man Cold Case, (Tamam Shud case), was and is an Espionage case.

Below you see two main images and close up examples of the inscription, both are from the same base image and both had been treated with the lemon juice ink removal technique. The slight differences in clarity for the two are the result of diluting the fluid with 20% water, the top image, and 33% in the lower image. They are named TR and TL  on the files.

1. TR

2. TL

MICROCODE

Every word and marking un the inscription contains microcode. It would have taken hours to complete and that is one of the reasons why I believe that the Boxall version of the book containing as it does numerous concealment methods, was in fact a training manual

CLOSE UP IMAGES

The images below are marked TR and TL dependent on which of the two main images they came from.

The image to the right is the dash found in line 2 of the written verse, it follows the word Swore...

The signature, Jestyn, is shown on the right...   

The word Spring from the 3rd line....

More images will be added in the coming days.

In the meantime, here's a tutorial for those uncertain about how the process works, there is a full-screen option next to the cog in the player controls beneath the slides:

THE SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY: ACT 2, THE CODE ON THE CODE PAGE

 

This image has been shown numerous times in recent weeks. It's the code page as it may have appeared to the Police before it was marked over.

When you look closely at it, you will see that every area that was marked over, the letters, the flourishes, and apparent stained areas were all filled with microcode. To date, I have published just some of the decrypted strings found to date. There are more but for reasons which will become apparent in the next few weeks, I believe it's best not to publish any further decrypts of what has been found.

Inverted Crossed lines are shown here:

An important additional link is now apparent. Prior to the discovery of the microcode, the only link we had for Jess was the fact that her telephone number, now we have the torn piece and the code page bearing the same type of steganographic messages. That increases the likelihood of some kind of involvement for Jess.

In Act 3 which follows this post, we will show conclusively how Jess was involved and who else was part of the events of November 30th 1948

THE SECRET CODES A MYSTERY IN 3 ACTS, ACT 1: THE CODE IN THE TAMAM SHUD SLIP.

72 Years to the day...

 At 6.30 am on Wednesday, December 1st, 1948, the body of a man was found on Somerton Beach:

The image you see above is from a series taken by Adelaide University in laboratory conditions. It had been found by ex Detective Sergeant Herry Feltus, the man who wrote the definitive book about the Police investigation of the Somerton Man, 'The Unkown Man'. To my knowledge, the examination seemed to be focused on the nature of the paper itself and, by default, the wording on it. I know that the torn piece still exists although it is not in the hands of the University nor Professor Abbott.

THE CODES MYSTERY 

IN 3 ACTS...

ACT 1

THE CODE IN THE TAMAM SHUD SLIP

The body was found on the beach early that Wednesday morning, Police arrived and the 'sudden death' process began. Whilst there is a great deal of detail surrounding the event, our purpose in this post is to focus on one issue. The small scrap of paper that had been torn from a book, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and which bore the words TAMAM SHUD, it was later to be found rolled up tightly and pushed down into a hard to find waistband fob pocket of the trousers that the man was wearing at the time:

The piece itself when unraveled was quite small, the dimensions being approximately 40 mm wide and 15 mm in height.

Below are some close-up images of the printed letters on the torn piece, they were taken under Infrared lighting and I used the ink removal technique to gain a clearer view of the handwritten coded strings of letters and numbers:

1. Letter T

As you can see, the arrow points to the left-hand end of the ross piece on the letter T and within it there are strings of numbers and letters. In fact, when you examine the T closely, you'll see that it is filled with strings of code. I estimate that much of this has been written at .3 mm in height. Notice how the strings in the crossbar indicated are wedge-shaped, following the shape of that crossbar.

2. First letter A in TAMAM

To the left is a processed image of the first letter A in Tamam

 Next, the same first letter A but this time, there are two highlighted areas containing numbers, the whole letter A is filled and if you see to print it out you would see far more.

3. First letter M in Tamam

To the left, the plain, though processed image, of the first letter M in Tamam.

Next, is the slightly enlarged and highlighted image of that same first M from Tamam.

Notice the strings and in particular, notice the way that the strings across the base of the letter seem to continue across from left to right, closely, but not precisely aligned.

You may also notice the lighter areas in a number of locations surrounding the edges of the letter, they seem to contain parts of strings.

4. Second letter A & second letter M in Tamam:

These two letters are so closely connected by what appears to be code continued across between the spaces between them.

The marked-up. highlighted image of the A & M show a considerable number of strings of code. Note that they are at varying angles with some following the outline of the letters, some straight across and some rising from left upwards to the right.

In particular note the elipse at the top left, it includes some very faint pencil markings in the open space alongside the 'accent/diacritical' mark above the letter A.

The word SHUD

The second word in the phrase is of course SHUD. It, too, is filled with apparent strings of code as you will see in the images below.

The arrow in the above image indicates some relatively clear letters and numbers...

The highlighted version of the word SHUD clearly shows numerous instances of code, again the strings are at different angles with some following the outlines of the letters, some appearing to continue across the space between the letters and some rising from left to right.

DOWNLOADING:

To successfully print out the images shown above, you could download the master image first by right-clicking on the image and select 'Save image'

Once you have done that and assuming you have an image editing package such as pant.net or Gimp, you could then cut individual letters from the piece and make any adjustments needed to clarify, sharpen the images.

Alternatively, you can simply download the individual letters using the right-click and 'save as ' function.

The images below have bot been subjected to the ink removal process, you can still see the hidden codes but not as clearly.

1. TA

2. MAM

3. AM

4. SHU

5. UD

Each and every letter on the torn piece is filled with microcode

The size of the code is extremely small, in places, it is less than .2 mm. That is achievable by hand but the real issue is how was it executed? Consider this, the two words are in black, how was the person who did this able to insert black code letters/numbers with some precision without overrunning his/her work?

A Special Purpose Book?

If you look carefully, you'll see that that whilst the code is a dark colour the background is much lighter. That could have implications as to the nature of the book itself, was it a special-purpose book? Was it manufactured for the purpose, much, as I believe, the Alf Boxall book may have been? Another thought is the use of microdot photography.

The very name suggests that such things were only found under 'dots' when in fact a micro 'dot' could be any shape including the shape of a letter T for example.

I have written a number of posts about the book including one which calls into question the name of the publisher as being Whitcomb and Tombs, here's a link:

https://tamamshud.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-somerton-man-rubaiyat-some-answers.html

The Whitcomb and Tombs Courage and friendship book is entirely the wrong size/aspect ratio.

What was the purpose of the torn piece?

I think we can also say with a high degree of certainty that the torn piece was not part of a proof of identity routine. It was common to use a torn piece of paper for that purpose, in fact, Pavel Fedosimov was given a torn piece of paper that was to be matched up with a piece that had been given to Harry Gold. It is likely that Harry had received his torn piece via a dead letterbox.

So, no, not a proof of identity, a simple torn piece of paper which was readily disposable and that was an advantage.

In contrast, the torn piece was found in a hard to find fob pocket of the trousers that the man was wearing at the time his body was discovered on the beach. As it now seems, this tiny piece of paper was highly significant and had value, it carries what appears to be extensive hidden code and that is why it was concealed.


The Tamam Shud slip was rolled up tight and pushed down into a hard to find waistband fob pocket, that was done so that in the case of a pat-down search it would probably escape detection, being easily mistaken for a seam and that was the idea.

This was Act 1, the second and third acts will follow, 
they contain the final pieces of a puzzle