Mystery Deepens: Missing British Man Boarded Flight from Thailand

[Moonlover]

5 hours ago, Geo. T said:

Why would you think the poster is fake? It seems likely it was made by his friend or his family, and they put the information in, so it's not quite up to official standards ie metric or Imperial. Also, if it was made by a friend or family member when they say to contact British police, they might mean to contact British, not try and contact Thai police.

By 'fake' I simply mean not produced by an official source, i.e. the South Yorkshire Police and on that point. you do seem to agree with me.

 

And indeed I do agree with you as to their (the producers) intent in producing it.

[steven100]

any update   ?   is he in Finland or Thailand   

 

the plot thickens ...

[Pouatchee]

20 hours ago, mancub said:

My, that's a long time to be shacked up in soi6 with a ladyboy. ( As some would believe ! )

 

is that your experience of soi 6?

as for me, ive never been.

[artotle]

20 hours ago, Wiggy said:

I agree.
Of course, they shouldn’t release details to any Tom, Dick or Harry, but I would think family members have the right to know if a loved one was on a particular flight. 

 

 

When it's a missing person's case, the police would get information. Brits didn't declare it as a missing person's case and no personal details should be released of any private person to anyone but themselves. Not family, not friends, not spouse. 

Edited August 8 by artotle

[watchcat]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

any update   ?   is he in Finland or Thailand   

 

the plot thickens ...

 

He didn't have funds for a direct flight to UK so a stopover in finland sounds resonably,  what ever happened there nobody knows.

[Sinsot]

15 hours ago, Kerryd said:

For those that don't think it's possible.

Lets say this guy:


sells his passport to a pawnshop (or it's "stolen" or whatever).

And then this guy:


buys that passport, goes to a ticket agent, uses the passport to buy a plane ticket and goes to the airport.

As neither guy is likely to be in Thailand's "Immigration database" (presumably) and Thailand is probably one of the 176 countries (out of 196) that don't normally check passports against Interpol's database, what are the chances some Thai Immigration officer - that's checked 400 people through already and sees 400 more in line and his lunch break is coming up - is going to question that guy "b" doesn't quite exactly look like guy "a" - when guy "a" is at the end of a two week binge drinking and "other fun" holiday ?

Probably zero chance.

Even if Thailand did check the passport against Interpol's database - it would only raise a flag if it had been reported stolen or the owner was "wanted" (i.e. had a red notice).

What is more likely is that the IO will glance at guy "b" and the passport and note the guy is the "right age, skin and hair colour and similar scraggy facial hair. Passport and fingerprint scans don't raise any flags in the system. Stamp, stamp - "have a nice flight" and guy "b" is heading for the boarding gate.

I have never seen an IO give someone the 3rd degree (interrogation) like some people seem to think they do with everyone they see.
And I've stood in a lot of Immigration lines over the years in places like Kabul, Dubai, Delhi, Manila, Bangkok, Cairo, Istanbul as well as numerous Euro and North American airports.

It's always the same thing. Hand them your passport, they look at you, look at your facepage, put it on the scanner, type something on the computer while they wait for the scan to finish, check that no flags were raised, tell you to look into the camera and/or put your hand on the scanner, stamp your passport and hand it to you while waving the next person forward.

They've totally forgotten you 2 seconds after putting your passport on the scanner and most won't even give you a glance after the first time they've looked at you. 
Unless little lights start flashing on their computer screen of course.

So as long as you look similar to the guy in the passport photo and you aren't in the "database" for some reason (and the passport hasn't been reported as stolen) it's really not that hard for someone to get through Immigration using someone else's ID.

(Another, older case involving Thailand. A career criminal from Canada "stole" someone's ID (passport) and used it to fly to Thailand. He spent a year here before murdering his girfriend in a fit of rage. He then mutilated her face, dismembered her body, hauled the pieces to a local swamp and dumped them before heading to the airport.)

Where he bought a plane ticket, casually passed through Immigration and flew back to Canada - still using that "stolen" ID.

That was before "biometrics" and fingerprint scanners - which wouldn't have made any difference at all because the person in the stolen ID wouldn't have been in Thailand's database anyways so no flags would have been raised when he flew out.

(I questioned when that "stolen ID" was reported as being stolen but never recieved a response. "Privacy concerns" I guess.)

ps: Guy "b" in the photos above is the son of a friend of mine. After my previous post I was catching up on some Facebook posts and there was one from my friend with her son and it was like "THERE ! See that ? Someone completely unrelated that could probably easily pass for the missing guy if he showed up at the airport with his passport."
 

To go through immigration you have facial and fingerprint recognition on the way into Thailand and on the way out. Your whacky theory is rubbish 🥱

[steven100]

21 minutes ago, watchcat said:

 

He didn't have funds for a direct flight to UK so a stopover in finland sounds resonably,  what ever happened there nobody knows.

 

aha .... maybe he has friends in Helsinki that he is staying with ...  we just don't know.

after boarding ...  he vanished into Finnair 

[GammaGlobulin]

18 minutes ago, steven100 said:

 

aha .... maybe he has friends in Helsinki that he is staying with ...  we just don't know.

after boarding ...  he vanished into Finnair 

 

He's probably here,...

Somewhere

 

It would have been easy to just exit the airport doors, and continue walking in almost any direction.

Norway is very sparsely populated, and this time of year the climate is good for camping.

 

If I were he, I would just take the supplies I could carry in a backpack, and leave the world, with its troubles, behind.

 

We all know that young people, today, and around the world, especially in China, are choosing to Lie Flat, and the Lying Flat Movement is all about no marriage, no job, no house, and no children to care for.

 

I believe that this is a possibility.

 

Sometimes, the stress of society becomes too much for any thinking individual to bear.

 

(Speaking of Bears, I happen to know that part of the woods has bears, very close to Helsinki:

)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8 by GammaGlobulin

[Cereal]

I was a flight attendant for 10 years. It is entirely possible that a person can board a flight and during the ensuing commotion of passengers getting on he/she could get off the airplane and bugger off. I've known it to happen. 

[Robin]

I think  we are not getting the whole story. 

Someone going on a 'dream holiday' from UK to Thailand, does not go for only 3 to 5 days, they would be gong to spend 3 to 5 weeks in LOS, and they would have been planning the trip for weeks.  Most likely been studying LP guides and have some travel plans, which they would have told all their close friends.

Why  so much a secret where he went and where he stayed?  

Why goon holiday without his 'girlfriend."   Would she have let him free in Bangkok?  Just to seethe temples?

Was this one of those 'bargains'?  Free ticket to Bangkok with 5 day stop-over in exchange for carrying a 'package' to Bangkok?

Did he get inquisitive and look in the package?   

Decide to keep the contents and doa runner back to safety in UK?

Package recipient in Bangkok very upset and deals him?

Now look in drainage ditches near Swampy.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

It would have been easy to just exit the airport doors, and continue walking in almost any direction.

 

Airports tend to be pretty secure, so he would have had to clear Finnish immigration to do that. No evidence offered yet that he did do that.

 

4 hours ago, watchcat said:

He didn't have funds for a direct flight to UK so a stopover in finland sounds resonably,  what ever happened there nobody knows.

 

He didn't have what now? He most likely had a r/t ticket on AY and, if his flight originated from MAN (he lives in the north of England so unlikely to have used LHR), there's no same-day transfer BKK-HEL-MAN so a +16 hour layover. Even if he had used LHR, most of those connections also require clearing immigration and a night in a hotel.

 

HEL air side is single-terminal so no need to pass through immigration. It's a very nice airport, but not so big that one could 'disappear' for 16 hours, let alone several days.

 

[NanLaew]

47 minutes ago, Robin said:

Someone going on a 'dream holiday' from UK to Thailand, does not go for only 3 to 5 days, they would be gong to spend 3 to 5 weeks in LOS, and they would have been planning the trip for weeks. 

 

Where is the information that he was on a "dream holiday"?

 

His original trip itinerary was 13 days and not 'only 3 to 5 days'. So he shaved three days off. That still leaves about 10 days in Thailand.

 

That's long enough to catch the clap and not know about it until he pisses razor blades on the plane, panics and decides he can't go see his girlfriend straight away.

 

Maybe hiding in a dunny at Helsinki-Vantaa?

[GammaGlobulin]

6 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

Where is the information that he was on a "dream holiday"?

 

His original trip itinerary was 13 days and not 'only 3 to 5 days'. So he shaved three days off. That still leaves about 10 days in Thailand.

 

That's long enough to catch the clap and not know about it until he pisses razor blades on the plane, panics and decides he can't go see his girlfriend straight away.

 

Maybe hiding in a dunny at Helsinki-Vantaa?

 

That sounds reasonable.

Always stay protected or celibate.

 

[KannikaP]

17 hours ago, Moonlover said:

The UK went metric in 1965

Is that why road distances and speed limits are still in MILES?

[kiwikeith]

On 8/7/2024 at 3:18 PM, SAFETY FIRST said:

What's all the fuss, hundreds of people go missing around the world daily. 

 

Nonsense article, He will turn up, good to go. 

 

 

 

All that we can do is hope your right.

[Moonlover]

3 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Is that why road distances and speed limits are still in MILES?

I think the simplest and most logical answer to that is the huge cost of changing all the road signs. (plus maps and travel guides etc)

 

The bigger confusion came when they switched from selling fuel in gallons to liters in 1995. So now how does the Great British public express fuel consumption?

[SAFETY FIRST]

Just now, kiwikeith said:

All that we can do is hope your right.

He's already been found, he was never lost. 

 

[Doctor Tom]

2 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

He's already been found, he was never lost. 

 

They never are lost, they just don't talk to their interfering, irritating, smothering  families, who they left to get away from.  I know, I have kids. 

[thaibeachlovers]

22 hours ago, Kerryd said:

All because of a woman he'd met on a 2 week holiday.

Not the first. After suffering the attitude of western woman, meeting a woman that seems to actually like one can be such a shock that many western men lose their minds and think the woman is "in love". Obviously the woman isn't going to spill the beans till he has transferred as much money as going to.

 

After my first visit I thought I'd met the love of my life, but after I returned to the land of reality realised it was just my imagination.

[roo860]

34 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Is that why road distances and speed limits are still in MILES?

And all road markings are in metric.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

We all know that young people, today, and around the world, especially in China, are choosing to Lie Flat, and the Lying Flat Movement is all about no marriage, no job, no house, and no children to care for.

They are obviously the clever ones. While I happily never had sprogs, marriage was only a one way ticket to horror. However, if they don't have a job, how do they live?

[GammaGlobulin]

13 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

However, if they don't have a job, how do they live?

 

They just lie flat.

 

I think, given the world situation that young people today face, there are many who will be bugging out, even without thought to the future...since there is, very likely, no future ahead for anyone.

 

Young people realize this, even better than older generations.

 

There is no longer any point in many of the institutions that older people and earlier generations once held sacred.

 

The end is nigh...

And, many more people are going to just drop out of society.

 

How can you blame them?

 

[steven100]

2 hours ago, Robin said:

I think  we are not getting the whole story. 

Someone going on a 'dream holiday' from UK to Thailand, does not go for only 3 to 5 days, they would be gong to spend 3 to 5 weeks in LOS, and they would have been planning the trip for weeks.  Most likely been studying LP guides and have some travel plans, which they would have told all their close friends.

Why  so much a secret where he went and where he stayed?  

Why goon holiday without his 'girlfriend."   Would she have let him free in Bangkok?  Just to seethe temples?

Was this one of those 'bargains'?  Free ticket to Bangkok with 5 day stop-over in exchange for carrying a 'package' to Bangkok?

Did he get inquisitive and look in the package?   

Decide to keep the contents and doa runner back to safety in UK?

Package recipient in Bangkok very upset and deals him?

Now look in drainage ditches near Swampy.

 

are you saying like ....     maybe a mule    ? 

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, roo860 said:

And all road markings are in metric.

Road markings in metric? You had better read this again.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/656ef4271104cf0013fa74ef/know-your-traffic-signs-dft.pdf

[StayinThailand2much]

On 8/7/2024 at 9:31 AM, JoePai said:

Stopped off in Finland for a spot of berry picking ?

 

He missed out on the ladies, so he decided to check out the girlie bars in Helsinki...

[roo860]

27 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Road markings in metric? You had better read this again.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/656ef4271104cf0013fa74ef/know-your-traffic-signs-dft.pdf

 

27 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

 

Why?

Edited August 8 by roo860

[KannikaP]

16 minutes ago, roo860 said:

 

Why?

Do I really need to point out that the distance to motorway junctions is in miles, and to Give Way signs in Yards. And Speed Limits in MPH.

Edited August 8 by KannikaP

[roo860]

9 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Do I really need to point out that the distance to motorway junctions is in miles, and to Give Way signs in Yards. And Speed Limits in MPH.

Absolutely you're correct, but you're confused with road markings and road signage, all road markings are measured in metric, even motorway marker posts are 100mtrs apart, I was involved in road markings from 1975, they were using the metric system before that.

Like I said in my original post, all road markings are in metric. 

Edited August 8 by roo860

[Seppius]

2 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

He's already been found, he was never lost. 

 

Is there a confirmation of this somewhere? Nothing in the British press he has been found

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/29738368/mystery-missing-simon-robinson-thailand/

Edited August 8 by Seppius
Added link

[KannikaP]

11 minutes ago, roo860 said:

Absolutely you're correct, but you're confused with road markings and road signage, all road markings are measured in metric, even motorway marker posts are 100mtrs apart, I was involved in road markings from 1975, they were using the metric system before that.

Like I said in my original post, all road markings are in metric. 

How confusing for the poor motorists! You break down and call the AA who asks where you are.

Oh, I am at motorway marker post no. 5      Where's that asks AA    3 miles from the junction   555

Glad to see that Google Maps etc are still in miles in UK.

Edited August 8 by KannikaP