THE SILENT 'WITNESS'...

Not included as a matter for discussion at the inquest was the evidence given by Constable Moss, the police officer who went to the scene of the discovery of the body of a man on Somerton Beach on the morning of  Wednesday 1st December 1948.

An old school copper, Constable Moss would have been well used to the rigours of Police reporting particularly when it came to sudden or suspicious deaths. I would not doubt that he would have reported on such matters on a number of previous occasions. His experience and knowledge would have told him that details of the scene would have to be meticulously recorded right down to the contents of the deceased's pockets. That search was done according to the book by Constable Moss and prior to the removal of the body by the Police ambulance:

Notably, at this stage, the first search of the body no matches were recorded by Constable Moss. In fact he mentioned in his evidence that he was meticulous in his search.*

The matches turned up later in the evidence given by Detective Sergeant Leane and it was that evidence that was not discussed but accepted at the Inquest.

In a previous post when discussing the scene of the discovery of the man, we walked through the facts including the fact that a 'half-smoked' cigarette was found on the lapel of the man's coat. 

If you recall, we spoke of how the man would have withdrawn the cigarette from the Army Club cigarette packet that contained 7 Kensitas brand cigarettes. 

For those who smoke, in those pre-filter days, you would, 9 times out of ten, light the cigarette in your mouth with the brand closest to your mouth. I have no idea why that should be but it was the case. Whilst the Kensitas brand was mentioned in the evidence presented to the court but no mention was made of the brand of the half-smoked cigarette, which itself was not presented in evidence.

No one questioned the issue of just how that last cigarette was lit, no spent match was found at the scene by the meticulous Constable Moss, he would have searched and he would have mentioned it in his evidence had it been so. And, as already mentioned, Constable Moss did not find any matches at the scene, if he had, he would have recorded the fact.

Why are these matches so important? For that, you must read on a little further but in the interim consider these issues:

1. If the man had matches, he would have used them to light his last cigarette. In fact, in our earlier post, we covered the fact that in the Doctor's opinion, the man was a heavy smoker with nicotine stains on his fingers. (No photographs of the hands produced at the inquest but that's another matter)

2. His estimated time of death was between 1 am and 2 am. He was last seen around 7.30 pm the previous evening yet this 'heavy smoker' had only one cigarette apparently, the half-smoked one on his lapel and no other cigarette butts were found at the scene.

3.  Is it possible that someone else lit the last cigarette for him? Yes, but where was the spent match? Perhaps whoever lit it had a lighter. That's an option but what about the absence of other cigarette butts and no spent matches?

4. What if the man, instead of putting the spent matches into the surrounding sand, he put them back into the matchbox? Yes, that would work but we have no photographs of the matchbox and its contents to support that view:

Here's a fact, if you are called to an inquest to present evidence, this is the level of information that you be required to give, highly detailed and accurate, meticulous you might say.

Is the matchbox. Why is it so important?

Now, the issue of brown striped trousers as spotted by Pete Bowes, takes on additional credibility. One witness spoke of plain brown trousers and yet another stated that the trousers had a stripe pattern. 

On the one hand, we have the issue of two witnesses disagreeing on the description of a piece of clothing. Those who have experience with the commonality of conflicting evidence and descriptions would understand that it happens quite frequently in witness statements, it is a documented fact. It is of lesser weight.

On the other hand, we have the far weightier issue of the absence of important evidence at a crucial time, the matches did not appear in the timeline of evidence until the body was in the morgue.

Consider this fact. Without the matches then the course of the inquest would have been entirely different, the coroner would have raised the question ' Why no matches?' Their late appearance provides an answer.

The combination of the late appearance of the matches plus the conflicting evidence regarding the description of the trousers adds up to serious questions as to whether the Somerton Man had been moved and just where and how he may have died.

The matches were the sleeper, the silent witness in the Somerton Man case. The brown striped trousers add to the credibility of this witness.

* The matches later found ere supposedly Bryant & May, their factory was in Melbourne and they also turned out matches for the Defence Forces through until 1946 I believe, here's an example: