THE COVER-UP BEGINS
This is a copy of the Verse 70 which was until recently believed to have been written by Jo Harkness, the nurse before she handed it to Alf Boxall at their meeting at the Clifton Gardens Hotel.
There was an earlier image of this particular verse on which the name 'Jestyn' had been covered over using a piece of paper and sellotape.
In the image below you can see the outline of that tape:
Why was that done? Why was it covered up? That name would have meant nothing to anyone, as far as I am aware, there was no record of her ever being called that name prior to the meeting with Boxall.
The answer I believe is because the police weren't trying to protect Jo Harkness, they didn't want to risk exposing Major William Jestyn Moulds. I think that the cover-up began here.
The answer I believe is because the police weren't trying to protect Jo Harkness, they didn't want to risk exposing Major William Jestyn Moulds. I think that the cover-up began here.
WRITING COMPARISONS
I have spent some time looking at and comparing the signature 'Jestyn' on the verse 70 page and also the signature and other writing by Major Moulds:
Next:
You can see the two joined letters AN, on the left are the letters 'an' is from an Army form completed by Major Moulds and on the right you can see the word 'and' from the verse 70 example of Alf Boxall's copy of the Rubaiyat as given to him by Jo Harkness:
These letters are so similar that it would be easy to say they were written by the same hand.
Next:
Here we have a comparison of the letter D, on the left is the example from Major Mould's Army form and on the right, from Verse 70.
You can see how the lower section of the 'd' is almost separate from the upright in both images, the shaping is very similar, the angle is a little different but not that couldn't be accounted for by virtue of the environment in which they were written. One, the Army form was quite formal and the Verse 70 was not.