THE SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY{ STATUS OF THE PROJECT...

 STATUS: June 24th 2024

It's been a while since I have posted a status as such and here's an update on a few issues that I hope are of interest.

1. First a 'thinking out loud' paragraph:

There’s not a lot known about Jess’s life in Adelaide in 1948. A young mum, some nursing activity, lived in a small maisonette in a suburb of Glenelg, a 7-minute stroll from the beach via Weewanda Street, and about a 15-minute walk to Glenelg, if it was raining she could hop on a bus, there is a bus stop across the road to 90 A Moseley street. From there she could catch a tram into the city if she wanted that's if if her man wasn't available or he was away working.

Her partner, at the time, Prosper, was a car dealer, driver, and wheeler-dealer with a few borderline scrapes in his history.

There’s an ASIO photo of a not dissimilar-looking young lady to Jess with a young boy in the late 40s or early 50s outside a CPA gathering in Hindmarsh I think it was. That information is courtesy of Peter Davidson.

All in all, a fairly ordinary existence. I’m thinking in terms of a 'legend', they were a fairly ‘grey’ family. Given what we now know and can show with her connection to some kind of intelligence activity, they had a good cover story to live by and tell.

And then there’s her brush with the Somerton Man case, her phone number on the back of a copy of the Rubaiyat came to the attention of SA Police. Detective Brown, as he was at the time, said that he saw her number on the back of the book in 'really tiny lettering'. (Note that when he saw it, it was on the back of the book, and in a later police document it was stated that the 'back leaf' was missing}

Jess may have been working for Australian Military Intelligence in an undercover situation. This is a possibility at this stage and has yet to cross the line into probability. If you have watched and/or read the Stuart Littlemore interview with Alf Boxall, you will know that Alf described Jess as being  'Very Courageous'. Interesting words, if my view is correct, she most certainly was.

2. The Inquest

As many would know I have been working with SAPOL on evidence connected to the case. By default that includes the matter of codes. ciphers and the use of secret writing as in micro writing. I can say that the Major Crime Squad are very thorough in their work and there can be no doubt that they will prepare an extensive brief for the Coroner. It is also true to say that like most Police forces, they have a high load of current cases to be dealt with as a priority which is bound to affect the date of the publication of the Coroner's findings.

In the end, it is up to the coroner which information and material he takes into account and remember that the inquest is into the identity of the Somerton Man and not how or where he died nor the circumstances surrounding his death.

3. Where to from here?

For the time being, I will be posting less frequently. There is a considerable amount of information to be processed and assessed some of which could be called 'sensitive material' and it must be treated that way. It's all about priorities and doing the right thing.

Many thanks to all the followers of our blog, your continued support and interest in the case is very much appreciated.