I'm on the tiny island of Brehat. It's in the Cote d'Amor department, on the North coast of Brittany, in France. Tiny, as in 3.5km by 1.5km. Apart from a few small tractors and a few small professional vehicles used for produce delivery, and garbage collection, no motorised vehicles are allowed on the island. In fact there's no room for them anyway. You will only see pedestrians, and alot of bicycles. Winter population is around 300 persons, summer 3000, and between 22nd July and 23rd August, and between 8.30am and 2.30pm there is a set limit of 4,700 visitors allowed, both to protect the island and give tourists a pleasant stay. You reach the island via a 10 minute ferry ride from the mainland. I'm staying in the municipal campsite. Bargain. £8 a night.
In my last blogpost I spoke of writing up both Some Mother's Son's story, and Tommy's. Well, I have, but I don't think it will be useful to share all the dates and events with you in long form, unless within a book, and I haven't done that yet. I can see from the views on my blogs that there must be new people reading them most weeks, and alot of those people probably won't know the full stories, so I am going to shorten them to give you as good an idea as I can, in a paragraph each.
Some Mother's Son: A gentleman found in a farmer's field on 22nd January 1982. Behind Tregantle Fort, near Torpoint in Cornwall, UK. Assumptions made, British, Merchant Navy, around 25/30 years old. No foul play. No self harm. Possessions found with him, coins from late 1970's, remnants of Sun newspaper dated 1978. Remnants of duffel coat and duffel bag. Merchant Navy Discharge Book destroyed. Passport Issue date evident, although year questionable. All possessions either lost or destroyed by Devon and Cornwall Police. No dna taken. (Pre dna days). Gentleman remains unidentified to date. Two periods of extreme cold in 1978 that could account for the gentleman's demise. There has been BBC television coverage this year. I've done 4 talks about the gentleman. Newspaper coverage, and a lot of online coverage. Two names given to date. Tommy Jones, and another gentleman's name currently with Locate International, for their ongoing investigations.
Tommy Jones: Tommy was an 18 year old chef in the merchant navy who reportedly went overboard the SS Northern Star midway between Plymouth, UK and Roscoff, France at 7.14pm on the 14th June 1975. Helen, his sister, and I, have been investigating how and why this may have happened. Tommy was also featured in the BBC television news programme Spotlight Points West on 29th April, along with radio and social media coverage. At present we are looking for a route to get a partial skull tested for dna. The partial skull was found on the isle de Modez, an island adjacent to isle de Brehat where I am now. The item was found on a beach in 1984 and was handed to me in May of this year. To date, neither the French nor British Police are prepared to make the test. Cellmark forensics in the UK can make the test. We just need Police approval to make it happen. Both Tommy's brother and sister have given dna samples, which are now in Hampshire Police's database for any future investigations.
Any questions you may have about the two different stories please just comment here.
In my last blogplost I said to watch this space. So here's that space. On Wednesday coming, Helen and I have a meeting with one of Adam Dance's caseworkers. Adam Dance is the Liberal MP for Yeovil, where Helen is from, and where Tommy was born on the 8th September 1956.
The request we are putting to Adam Dance, via his caseworker, is, can you please help us change the minds of either, or both, of the British and French Police's minds. It is a simple and direct question. Tommy reportedly went overboard the Northern Star about 45 miles North North West of isle de Modez on 14th June 1975. The French family found the partial skull on a beach on the isle de Modez some time around 1984.
Tommy's family realise that there is perhaps a one in a million chance that the skull belongs to Tommy. But it is the first time in 51 years that anything of any sort has come along that might help the family know if Tommy's body washed ashore all those years ago.
At the moment doors have closed as far as testing goes. But those doors still have keys, and the keys are with the British and French Police. And the way for those keys to turn, in my opinion, is through the use of compassion. The mental relief that the family will feel, simply because authority tried to help, would be enormous for them.
I made a video a few days ago. I leave it for you to watch below.
I felt guilty thinking about paying 5 euros 50 cents for a coffee so that I could use electricity in comfort in one of the local restaurants here. Then I remembered that a friend had donated 3 cups of coffee to me a few weeks ago. What a good use of his money. I'm going to have another cup now.