SOMERTON MAN COLD CASE: PAUL"S STORY PART 2: THE MAKING OF THE BUST & A SHOCK DISCOVERY

 MAKING THE BUST

The images above show the face of the Somerton Man, the one on the left is how the face appeared some days after the bust was made, just prior to the burial. The image of the bust looks different and that, according to Pail is due to the fact that he used the Police post autopsy photographs to help him properly finish the facial features of the man. The nose and mouth have quite different appearances.

Paul gave quite a detailed description of the events of that Tuesday when he started on the project. He had been busy over the weekend gathering the various tools and materials he needed including the special plaster from Fosters Pottery and a selection of floor boarding with which he would build a frame around the upper part of the man's body. 

Four detectives had turned up to help and together they manhandled the body from its resting place in the freezer at the Morgue. 3 men were at his head and shoulders, the fourth lifted his feet.

Paul prepared the body by washing it with soft soap and applied some to the man's hair to smooth it down and then built the wooden frame. 

During the process, some of the plaster slipped off the man's back due to the body defrosting, one of the detectives used towels from the morgue to dab the body dry. Eventually, the plaster took to the body. 

The body had to be turned over and the Detectives, 4 of them, did that work.

Special wax was melted down for the ears, it became like a jelly which Paul poured into each ear whilst it was still hot, he had to wait for it to cool down before removing the 'plugs'. The ears were made in fact made with Dental wax and the shape was reinforced with a hessian cloth to hold the shape together.

The work was completed and Paul was very pleased with the result, he had a good likeness of the man in the original police photographs.

THE SHOCK DISCOVERY

It was for days after the completion of the bust that Paul received a telephone call from Professor Cleland. He told Paul that he wanted the head bd instructed him to go to the morgue, skin the head, and remove the skull replacing it with a rough model that he could make up. Paul followed the instructions, he went to the morgue, retrieved the body, and had it on the table. 

Paul had commenced skinning the head to a point where he had removed the skull cap when a Detective suddenly entered the morgue and told him to immediately stop what he was doing and that the man was going to be buried that day.

Paul stated that what he found when he skinned and opened the skull surprised him. The inside of the skull was pristine, immaculately clean which could only have been achieved by pouring boiling water into the brain cavity. 

There was no sign of any biological material whatsoever, it had all been removed. Paul called Cleland and told him what had happened, Cleland was very annoyed; they spoke for a while, and from what Paul told me, they agreed that the tissue had been removed to prevent any detailed examination. Paul was aware that certain drugs left tell-tale traces in the brain and not elsewhere in the body, sodium pentathol, the 'truth' drug, was mentioned.

In closing off this session Paul made specific mention of the way that the skin had been stitched when he went to prepare the skull. In his view, it was a very professional job, someone was practiced in this art.

There's more to follow on this last aspect, can we find out just when the sewing work had been done and when?

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