Marion Barter inquest enters second week in Ballina Local Court

The alleged secret lover of a missing Gold Coast mother told his wife he broke off the affair because it was ‘wrong’. See what his wife said in court.

The alleged secret lover at the centre of an inquest for a missing school teacher told his wife their affair was was wrong and he had only met her once or twice before it was called off, a court has heard.

Ric Blum watched from the public gallery of Ballina Courthouse on Monday as his wife gave evidence into an inquest focused on the disappearance and suspected death of Marion Barter.

The Gold Coast woman and ex-wife of Australian soccer great Johnny Warren was last seen by her family in June 1997, days before she flew overseas for what was meant to be a year-long holiday in the UK and Europe.

In August 1997, known as Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel, Ms Barter flew back into Australia but her family never heard from her again.

Investigations later revealed Marion Barter had changed her name to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel in May 1997, resigned from her job as a schoolteacher and sold her house before she went overseas.

The first week of the inquest focused on several witnesses who claimed to have known her alleged secret lover Ric Blum who allegedly used multiple aliases and scammed several women across Sydney and the North Coast.

The majority of the court on Monday was closed as the court heard about procedural applications regarding the inquest.

When it was opened, Mr Blum’s wife Diane De Hedervary took to the stand, describing how she met Belgium-born man named Willy Wouters as a teenager upon a ship to Australia in 1970.

Mr Blum remained in the gallery for the day, supporting his wife.

By February 1976 the pair were married and Mr Wouters changed his name to Frederick William De Hedervary to take on the family name of his parents who had died in WWII, Ms De Hedervary said.

She said she always called him Ric and knew him to be a press/wedding photographer and military policeman before they met.

The pair moved to Europe; travelling between Luxembourg, France and Belgium with his family’s sofa warehouse, Ms De Hedervary said.

Ms De Hedervary told the court she and her husband had not listened to the podcast The Lady Vanishes, a Channel Seven podcast about Marion Barter’s disappearance.

She said she had no knowledge of Ms Barter prior to Mr Blum being interviewed by police last year.

“I had never heard of her before, so I was surprised by the whole thing,” she told the court.

When Ms De Hedervary asked Mr Blum about the police investigation, he said he had known Ms Barter years ago and had gotten back in contact with Ms Barter via a companionship ad in the paper around the early 1990s.

She said her husband had told her he had only met Ms Barter once or twice before calling off the affair.

“He said it was wrong because he was married and she had another relationship as well,” she told the court.

“He said he didn’t even know she had gone missing anyway.

“I had no idea at the time, I just didn’t ask.”

She will continue giving evidence in Ballina Local Court on Tuesday.