Ric Blum tells inquest missing Queensland mother Marion Barter is still alive

Ric Blum says missing mum Marion Barter wanted to cut ties and disappear from her family, insisting their relationship was sexual, not romantic.

Convicted conman Ric Blum claims his former lover Marion Barter – who has not been seen in almost 26 years since her abrupt disappearance in 1997 – is still alive and says the five women who gave evidence against him are liars.

The elderly fraudster arrived at Lismore Local Court on Thursday morning with the help of a walking frame to appear before an ­inquest into the disappearance and presumed death of the Queensland mother, whom he was spotted with shortly before she vanished.

The 83-year-old answered questions about Barter and denied evidence, through shakes and stutters, that he took advantage of vulnerable women, most of whom were divorced or widowed.

Mr Blum, who previously ­admitted to having an affair with Barter, said the relationship he shared with the missing woman was sexual, not romantic, and that he never tried to ­convince the schoolteacher to marry, move abroad, open a school overseas or withdraw money to give to him.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Adam Casselden SC asked: “This question now is the time for you to be full and frank about your interactions with Marion Barter in 1997. Is there anything you wish to say that you have not already said in relation to the disappearance of Marion Barter?”

Marion Barter went missing 22 years ago.

Mr Blum answered: “I myself ­believe she is still alive but I don’t know anything about what she did or whereabouts, nothing at all.

“I can’t tell you exactly when but in conversation before she went to England she said that she wanted to separate from her ­family, she didn’t want anything to do with any member of family.”

Mr Blum denied he and Barter – who left Australia for the UK under the name Floreabella Natalia Marion Remakel – ­married and said he had not seen her when it was documented she returned home in August.

“How can you organise a [marriage ceremony]?” Mr Blum said.

“In Europe you’ve got to produce your birth certificate … You can’t just get married like that.

“I only saw her three times in my whole life … perhaps four.”

Marion Barter and her two children Sally and Owen.

The Belgian national said he saw Barter before she left for the UK when she went to his house to pick up boxes of school supplies with a man of a bigger build wearing either an aviation or navy ­uniform.

Mr Blum was pressed on similarities that arose between ­one of his victims, Ghislaine Dubois-Danlois, and Barter, including him helping them pack and possibly ­directing them to obtain international ­driver’s licences and undergo medical exams.

“No, no, no. Never ... Why does a person ask another person to have a liver test?” he said of the suggestion he asked the women to have the medical test.

“I wouldn’t have ever done that to my son or my daughter.”

Mr Blum rejected the claims put forward previously by his ­victims Ghislaine Dubois-Danlois, Andree Flamme, Janet Oldenberg, Ginette Gaffney-Bowen and his dead cousin’s widow ­“Charlotte”.

“Charlotte”, in her 60s and ­living in Belgium at the time, said she was swindled when Mr Blum, who she had barely spoken to in 20 years, suggested the pair buy a house together in Bali. Shortly after they arrived, however, the conman left with €50,000, which he believed to be part of an inheritance arrangement.

01-06-2023 - Ric Blum is pictured entering Lismore local court for the inquiry into the disappearance of Marion Barter. Picture: Elise Derwin / The Australian

Mr Casselden put forward that on three separate occasions Mr Blum provided different reasons for taking the money, including that he was entitled to an inheritance, it was compensation and that it was for a prostate ­surgery.

The fraudster also said he never entered a romantic relationship with Ms Dubouis-Danlois and that he only stayed in her home with her – in a separate room – for four to five days. Mr Blum denied proposing to get married in Bali and starting a new life in Australia, despite a ­letter Ms Dubois-Danlois shared with friends saying that she was engaged.

“It’s all lies,” Mr Blum declared.

“She never gave me a penny. In fact, every time I went [to the] workplace … I bought the food and everything.”

Mr Blum said he had hardly anything to do with Ms Flamme, 93, a Belgian grandmother who housed him, and that he mostly ­interacted with her son-in-law.

He mentioned he had watched Ms Flamme, who appeared next to her daughter via video link to give her evidence, and questioned the validity of her answers.

She was required to give ­evidence only after being ­contacted and interviewed by The ­Australian.

Ric Blum at Lismore Local Court, Zadoc St, Lismore.

“I don’t think she answered any questions herself,” Mr Blum said.

He rejected that he stole her coin collection and said he ­had ­returned 2000 coins to her son-in-law.

Mr Blum suggested the women coming forward were inspired by a podcast and media reports.

He has not been excused from the inquest and may be recalled on Friday morning to appear via video link.