SOMERTON MAN TAMAM SHUD CASE: THE CRIME SCENE< WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PHOTOGRAPH? ANOTHER QUESTION RAISED...

 THE CRIME SCENE....

X Marks the spot? Not according to John Lyons...:

The witness John Lyons stated that the body was 3 feet away from the steps. The black X marks the spot on the police photograph looks to be more like 10 feet away from the steps.

Why is that important? Put yourself on the seat where Gordon Strapps and Olive Neil were sitting. about 3 feet back from the wall and at an acute angle to where the man was lying. Could Gordon Strapps have seen the man's trouser colour or pattern from that position? I don't think he could, his view would have been partially obscured by the steps. He would have had to have gone to the edge to see him clearly, but he didn't say that in his evidence. Even then, when they got up to walk away it was dusk, and to differentiate a shade or two or distinguish a pattern is most unlikely. But read further below for a slightly different take.

That, sadly, could put to rest any thoughts about different trouser patterns, which is a pity because it would have added weight to the evidence regarding the tides which shows that the body must have been placed on the beach after the high tide at 4.34 am by providing us with some evidence that the man was different to the one seen the previous evening.

Interestingly though, the body lying a very short distance from the steps suggests that it would have been quite easy for two people to drop him into position without disturbing the sand around the body.

It all gets even more interesting if the X was where one body was seen and the red arrow points to the spot where Lyons says he was. Curious. It's all down to what the evidence says.