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Speaker 1: From The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey. We've loved bringing you

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Speaker 1: insights from our journals around the nation and the world

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Speaker 1: this year. Over this holiday break, we're revisiting some of

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Speaker 1: our biggest and best episodes from a huge year in

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Speaker 1: the news. This episode originally aired on March one, when

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Speaker 1: New South Wales State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan handed down her

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Speaker 1: findings in an inquest into the nineteen ninety seven disappearance

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Speaker 1: of Queensland mother Marion Barter. It's hosted by our senior

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Speaker 1: reporter Matthew Condon. This is a case that's captivated the

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Speaker 1: nation for years, and O'Sullivan said the possible involvement of

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Speaker 1: fraudster Rick Bloom Warren's further investigation, directing the authorities to

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Speaker 1: send the case to the homicide squad. The Front will

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Speaker 1: return with all new episodes on Monday, January thirteen. Just

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Speaker 1: hit follow or subscribe to hear the latest every morning.

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Speaker 2: Today, I'll be delivering my findings in the inquest into

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Speaker 2: the disappearance and suspected death of Florabella Natalia Marion Ramical

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Speaker 2: known as Marion Bart and who I'll be referring to

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Speaker 2: as Marian that was New.

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Speaker 3: South Wales State Coroner Magistrate Teresa O'Sullivan. In a story

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Speaker 3: that has more twists, turns and intrigue than a thriller novel.

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Speaker 3: Coroner O'Sullivan's somber conclusions in a court room in Lidcombe

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Speaker 3: in Sydney's West yesterday tied off some chapters in this

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Speaker 3: painful saga, but left the door ajar for the hunt

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Speaker 3: for Marion's killer.

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Speaker 2: First of all, I'd like to welcome Marion's family and

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Speaker 2: friends who are joining us here in person or via

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Speaker 2: the live stream today. I'd especially to acknowledge Marion's daughter,

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Speaker 2: Sally Laden and Marian's son in law chris Leyden and

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Speaker 2: her grandchildren. My thoughts are with you today.

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Speaker 3: So here's a recap of one of the most remarkable

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Speaker 3: and peculiar missing persons cases in this nation's criminal history.

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Speaker 3: Marian Barta, once married to Australian's soccer great Johnny Warren,

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Speaker 3: was a well loved teacher at the exclusive of the

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Speaker 3: Southport School on the Gold Coast, when in mid nineteen

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Speaker 3: ninety seven, at aged fifty one, she abruptly resigned her position,

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Speaker 3: sold her house and traveled overseas. Leading up to her

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Speaker 3: trip an. Unbeknown to friends and family, she had officially

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Speaker 3: changed her name to the elaborate Flora Bella Natalia Marian Ramachel,

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Speaker 3: returning to Australia later in the year without contacting her

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Speaker 3: loved ones, she made a series of large cash withdrawals

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Speaker 3: from her bank account before she completely disappeared. It took

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Speaker 3: more than a decade before police began to seriously investigate

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Speaker 3: the Barter mystery.

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Speaker 4: Good morning everyone, Detective Superintendent Danny Doltick, Commander Homicide Sport

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Speaker 4: to State cron Command, a new South Wales government together

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Speaker 4: in the New South Wales Police Force announced a turner of

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Speaker 4: fifty thousand dollars reward relating to the nineteen ninety seven

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Speaker 4: disappearance of Marion Bart. Marion Barter was fifty one when

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Speaker 4: she was last seen in Scarborough Street, near Railway Street

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Speaker 4: at Southport and Coueensland at a bus step. In the

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Speaker 4: week's leading up to her disappearance, Marion was seen with

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Speaker 4: a toll male who was unknown to us and to

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Speaker 4: a family.

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Speaker 3: Finally, a protracted inquest into the case began on June

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Speaker 3: twenty one, twenty twenty one. It ended yesterday while Coroner

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Speaker 3: O'Sullivan found Marion's disappearance to be troubling. She was unequivocal

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Speaker 3: about the missing teacher's fate.

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Speaker 2: I come now to the formal findings. As a result

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Speaker 2: of having considered all of the documentary evidence, the oral

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Speaker 2: evidence given at inquests and submissions, I find, on the

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Speaker 2: balance of probabilities that Floribella Natalia Marian Ramical, formerly known

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Speaker 2: as Marion Barter, is deceased.

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Speaker 3: A heartbreaking conclusion for the family and Marion's supporters who

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Speaker 3: packed the Lidcom Court yesterday, but hardly unexpected. In late

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Speaker 3: nineteen ninety seven, Marian's daughter Sally, officially reported her mother

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Speaker 3: missing to Byron Bay Police. Catastrophically, police didn't deem Marian

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Speaker 3: as missing, but in fact as a person not wanting

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Speaker 3: to be found. Of this decision, the coroner was scathing.

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Speaker 2: I find that the nature and adequacy of the police

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Speaker 2: investigation into the disappearance of Marian was not adequate.

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Speaker 3: But that was just the start of this labyrinth of

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Speaker 3: a case. Thanks in part to an Australian podcast, The

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Speaker 3: Lady Vanishers, Amateurs Sloths were unleashed on the investigation trying

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Speaker 3: to piece together the Marion Barter mystery and one of

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Speaker 3: those sloths made a critical breakthrough, linking Marion to a

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Speaker 3: Belgian born convicted conman by the name of Rick Blum. Blum,

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Speaker 3: now in his eighties and based in Australia since the

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Speaker 3: nineteen seventies, had a string of convictions for fraud and

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Speaker 3: had in the past gone under at least fifty aliases.

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Speaker 3: The inquest heard evidence from vulnerable women who had been

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Speaker 3: deceived by Blum as it transpired in wild and perambulating

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Speaker 3: evidence before the coroner. Blum confirmed that he had been

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Speaker 3: in a relationship with Barta in the months before she disappeared.

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Speaker 3: He had also once used the alias Remakel, but he

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Speaker 3: vehemently denied he had anything to do with her disappearance.

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Speaker 3: In court, Blum denied he had suggested to Barter that

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Speaker 3: she buy a school in the UK in order to

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Speaker 3: persuade her to withdraw money from her bank account. He

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Speaker 3: also strongly denied he had had any contact with Barta

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Speaker 3: after she'd returned to Australia from overseas in August nineteen

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Speaker 3: ninety seven. The coroner, in her final findings, though ultimately

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Speaker 3: expressed misgivings about Blum as a witness.

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Speaker 2: In short, I do not accept as accurate anything mister

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Speaker 2: Bloom has said in evidence in the absence of independent

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Speaker 2: corroborating evidence. She added mister Bloom's evidence in the final

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Speaker 2: days of the inquest, when asked by Counselsting, would you

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Speaker 2: like to say anything further in relation to the disappearance

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Speaker 2: of Marion Barter, was extraordinary. This evidence, along with his

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Speaker 2: lies and deception throughout the inquest, has convinced me that

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Speaker 2: he does indeed no more than his saying.

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Speaker 3: Coroner O'Sullivan wasn't done with the enigma that was Rick Blum.

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Speaker 3: Investigations by the Australians National Crime correspondent Dave Murray and

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Speaker 3: others uncovered Blum's eye popping backstory as a globe trotting

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Speaker 3: coin collector with a taste for fine hotels and champagne,

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Speaker 3: also as a man accused of swindling unsuspecting widows of

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Speaker 3: their money. Blum, who lives in the New South Wales

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Speaker 3: Northern Rivers region, has called the accusations a pack of lies.

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Speaker 3: The coroner concluded.

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Speaker 2: I make the following further findings regarding mister Bloom. Firstly,

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Speaker 2: that he has further knowledge about the circumstances of Marian's

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Speaker 2: travel overseas, Secondly, that he has further knowledge of his

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Speaker 2: relationship with her in the months prior to her disappearance. Thirdly,

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Speaker 2: that he has further knowledge of her circumstances following her

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Speaker 2: return from overseas. Fourthly that he has further knowledge of

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Speaker 2: the withdrawals and transfer of her money. And finally, that

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Speaker 2: there is a sufficient basis for a finding that he

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Speaker 2: was and is deliberately unwilling to divulge this further knowledge

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Speaker 2: to the court.

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Speaker 3: The coroner said any future action against Blum, be it

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Speaker 3: for alleged perjury or giving false statements before the inquest,

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Speaker 3: was up to prosecuting authorities to pursue if they so judged.

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Speaker 3: As for New South Wales Police and the continued investigation

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Speaker 3: into Marion Barter's whereabouts, Coroner Sullivan was unequivocal.

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Speaker 2: I recommend that the New South Wales Commissioner of Police

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Speaker 2: calls the investigation into the death of missing person Floribella

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Speaker 2: Natalia Marian Ramcol formerly known as Marion Barter, be referred

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Speaker 2: to or to remain within the State Crime Command Unsolved

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Speaker 2: Homicide Team for ongoing investigation, review and monitoring.

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Speaker 3: So the Barter case is not over by a long shot,

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Speaker 3: or is it coming up? What this case has in

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Speaker 3: common with other notorious Australian mysteries. While I've got you,

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Speaker 3: I wanted to let you know. Subscribers can access more

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Speaker 3: of this in depth reporting anytime at The Australian's website.

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Speaker 3: Check us out at the Australian dot com dot au.

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Speaker 3: We'll be back after this break. The Australians National Crime

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Speaker 3: Correspondent Dave Murray worked extensively on the Marian Barter missing

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Speaker 3: person investigation. We spoke to him after the coroner's findings

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Speaker 3: were delivered.

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Speaker 5: The coroner came back with some very significant findings. Firstly

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Speaker 5: that Marion Barter is dead, that she is no longer alive,

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Speaker 5: that she died some time after nineteen ninety seven, the

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Speaker 5: year that she went missing. It's what her daughter, Sally Leyden,

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Speaker 5: has suspected for a long time. It's not something that's

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Speaker 5: easy for her to accept, I think, but the longer

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Speaker 5: and longer it's gone, all the milestones that have passed

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Speaker 5: without any word or sign from her mother being alive,

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Speaker 5: she was forced to come to that conclusion.

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Speaker 3: Dave wasn't convinced that the inquest would have satisfactorily served

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Speaker 3: the Barter family. Only time would tell.

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Speaker 5: But you have to wonder what's actually going to happen

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Speaker 5: with this case, like how are they going to take

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Speaker 5: it for because it becomes just one more of however

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Speaker 5: many unsolved cases that the homicide squad will periodically come

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Speaker 5: back to and have a look at, and unless there's

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Speaker 5: some kind of major development, it goes back and gathers

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Speaker 5: dust again and there's no answers and Sally Laden has

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Speaker 5: left without any resolution. It's completely unacceptable for that to happen.

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Speaker 5: There are avenues to pursue this case further, and I

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Speaker 5: think our police forces owe it to Sally Layden to

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Speaker 5: be doing everything they can to solve this case because

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Speaker 5: there has just been so many stuff ups along the way.

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Speaker 5: And no one should accept.

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Speaker 3: That Marion's daughter, Sally a tireless advocate for the truth

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Speaker 3: about her mother the coroner's court yesterday without talking to reporters.

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Speaker 3: But the final words of Coroner O'Sullivan must have been

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Speaker 3: ringing in her ears.

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Speaker 2: It's fitting to end with the words shared by Sally

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Speaker 2: to the court, reading from the family statement, the statement

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Speaker 2: in which she described Marian as a kind, caring soul

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Speaker 2: with a wicked laugh. She was intelligent, she was cultured,

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Speaker 2: and she had so many friends who loved her and

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Speaker 2: miss her still. She would always bring you flowers or

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Speaker 2: a cake. She was a very generous human. I close

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Speaker 2: this inquest.

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Speaker 1: You can read all the nation's best news, sport, politics

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Speaker 1: and business anytime at the Australian dot com dot au