Identified! Australia - Manly, NSW, WhtMale, ~46, alias 'Paul Lachlan', Nov'14 - John Pritchard

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Love these, "Who were they" cases. That's what I did for a living before retiring...it was very interesting to say the least.
 
That is both very sad dying so young but being able to live without some sort of bankcard in this day and age is amazing. I am surprised he had nothing because even though we had 100 point checks for bank accounts in the very late 80's, most stuff was still paper based like a drivers licence. I can only remember needing a signed passport photo by 2 people who knew me back then when i got a passport around 1991. I have a very similar surname to this man and there are many variants. Ancestry has a registered 1970 birth in the name of Paul Laughlin. The only reason i am adding is that within my family, there are birth certificates from the UK that have 3 different versions of the name even though we are blood relatives.
 
https://www.facebook.com/nswpolicef...18519706184/10153447927246185/?type=1&theater

Apparently he had no bank accounts, at least not in the name that he was known by. No job, no bank account, yet he was able to live life in a pretty affluent area of Sydney. So maybe a bank account somewhere in a different name?

Interesting that there are so many ways of spelling Laughlin/Lachlan.

A few people on the NSW police facebook site have commented that they knew him.
 
I hope they can find out who he is.

Police have said that his death was not suspicious. I wonder if he lived off the grid for a while.
 
That is a interesting case
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/20-years-mystery-missing-star-unsolved/story-25926959-detail/story.html



"He is not a rock star in a famous band to us – he is our flesh and blood, and it hurts every day he is not here with us.

"I put off everything in my life in the hope that if I wait long enough he will return to share it all with me. When Richey disappeared he left his passport neatly arranged on a desk in his flat with a toll receipt nearby."

She believed that this was a clue. He had left his passport behind because he was leaving to start a new life under a new identity.

"Before he disappeared, Richard had become obsessed with the perfect disappearance," she said.
 
It looks like Richie had tattoos. The photo NSW police posted showing "Pauls" arms looks more like spider veins than an arm that has tattoos hidden. He looks rather ill in the photos poor man. Some of the comments on the NSW police site suggest another man who has gone missing. Martin David Roberts. The pictures do look like him but his sister seemed to believe it is not him. I hope all the interest generated gets him his name. I hope it doesn't end up like the Lori Ruff case. I know people make decisions all the time to disappear. I respect that but i also feel for families left behind.
 
As per Martin David Roberts family, they have been informed by Australian police that they believe they have found the man's family, and therefore it's unlikely to be Martin. They are waiting for DNA results but they are fairly certain that it will be a match.

https://www.facebook.com/helpfindmartin/

Few more pictures released

12391197_10153455500756185_9139096106727246927_n.jpg


https://www.facebook.com/nswpoliceforce/photos/p.10153455500756185/10153455500756185/?type=3&theater
 
As per Martin David Roberts family, they have been informed by Australian police that they believe they have found the man's family, and therefore it's unlikely to be Martin. They are waiting for DNA results but they are fairly certain that it will be a match.

https://www.facebook.com/helpfindmartin/

Few more pictures released

12391197_10153455500756185_9139096106727246927_n.jpg


https://www.facebook.com/nswpoliceforce/photos/p.10153455500756185/10153455500756185/?type=3&theater


Oh so it looks like (per this fb post) that Australian LE has obtained a dna sample already in December and are waiting for the results. This case might be solved soon.
 
That is a interesting case
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/20-years-mystery-missing-star-unsolved/story-25926959-detail/story.html






"He is not a rock star in a famous band to us – he is our flesh and blood, and it hurts every day he is not here with us.


"I put off everything in my life in the hope that if I wait long enough he will return to share it all with me. When Richey disappeared he left his passport neatly arranged on a desk in his flat with a toll receipt nearby."


She believed that this was a clue. He had left his passport behind because he was leaving to start a new life under a new identity.


"Before he disappeared, Richard had become obsessed with the perfect disappearance," she said.
dizzigirl1 said:
It looks like Richie had tattoos. The photo NSW police posted showing "Pauls" arms looks more like spider veins than an arm that has tattoos hidden


Having read a bit online now I'm feeling a little less crazy as a few other people have now wondered whether it could be Richey too . Laser treatment could have got rid of any tattoos but he did also have scarring from self harming on his lower arms that would still be there.


Bone structure, mouth and ears are very similar but I don't think the eyebrows match. There aren't many pics of Richey smiling so he looks wide eyed in most pics but a picture of a younger Richey almost smiling does look similar to the younger picture of Paul

richey.jpg









Timewise and agewise it fits... Richey disappeared in Feb 1995 and the first record police have of Paul Lachlan is him working/volunteeering at a crisis/suicide prevention centre in Australia in June 1995. Another coincidence is that Richey was from South Wales in the UK and Paul had settled in New South Wales in Australia.


His band also released a song called Australia in 1996
The sentiment of the song is that Australia is just about the furthest one can go to get away from their home in Wales and is a metaphor for Nicky Wire's desire to escape from the emotional turmoil caused by the disappearance of his close friend and co-lyricist, Richey Edwards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(Manic_Street_Preachers_song)


It sounds like police think they have a match to somebody anyway (pending DNA results) but for a while there I thought maybe Richey really had found the peace he was craving, on the otherside of the world.
 
Absolutely re tattoos being removed & scarring. He does look similar & i don't think you are crazy at all. There were photos where he looked like Martin also. I just hope his families get peace sooner rather than later and he finally has a resting place somewhere. He just looks so sad.
 
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...n/news-story/32d91f47d4d73a7e5b79bd67fb8b7add

Now a British man has told news.com.au that the man known as “Paul Lachlan” travelled to Australia with him on a tourist visa in 1995 and that his real name was Jon Pritchard.
“He was from Wigan (a town in Greater Manchester) and had a mother and sister,” Richard Martin told news.com.au.
Mr Martin spent three years working as a chef in Australia and New Zealand between 1990 and 1996 but met Mr Prichard, a fellow chef, in the UK.

http://www.wigantoday.net/news/wiganer-in-australia-death-mystery-1-7807251
 
The coroner has confirmed that Paul Lachland was John Pritchard

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/19/briton-who-lived-secret-life-in-australia-named-by-coroner-as-john-pritchard

An Englishman who went to extraordinary lengths to live a double life in Australia before he was found dead in a Sydney unit in 2014 has been identified by a coroner as John Pritchard.
The man’s former boyfriend found his body in a Manly unit but when authorities attempted to identify him, it soon became apparent many aspects of his life didn’t stack up.
 

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