Marion Barter ‘seen with conman Ric Blum’ before vanishing

It can now be revealed that investigators concluded fraudster Ric Blum was the man seen with Queensland mum Marion Barter, and that he knew more than he was telling them.

Marion Barter was seen in a car with convicted conman Ric Blum before she vanished, police believe.

Missing Queensland teacher ­Marion Barter was spotted with a serial conman shortly before she vanished, explaining one of the central mysteries in the case, police believe.

The fleeting sighting of Barter with an unknown man by her daughter Sally Leydon and her husband Chris has always been a key piece of the puzzle as one of the earliest factors to raise suspicions about her disappearance.

It can be revealed that investigators concluded convicted fraudster Ric Blum was the man seen with Barter, and that he knew more than he was telling them.

Ric Blum says he had an affair with Marion Barter but denies any involvement in her disappearance. Picture: Tessa Flemming

Ms Leydon told police her mother appeared stunned to have been seen in her red Honda Civic with the man at a Gold Coast service station and began to panic, driving off in a hurry instead of filling up. The next day, Barter said the man was just a friend.

Detective Senior Constable Sasha Pinazza from the NSW Police homicide squad addresses the sighting in a statement provided to a continuing coronial inquest into Barter’s suspected death.

“I believe that Mr Blum is the person described by Sally Leydon and Chris Leydon in the car with Marion Barter at the service centre in Southport, in the weeks before her departure,” Constable Pinazza states.

“I believe that there is more to the relationship between Mr Blum and Marion Barter. I believe that Marion Barter most certainly would have been enamoured by stories of wealth, promises of ­romance and prospects of starting a new life abroad.”

Mr Blum, now 82 and living in Ballina on the NSW north coast, is accused of deceiving and scamming a series of women, in some instances meeting them through personal ads and encouraging them to sell their homes.

Presenting himself as a wealthy collector of rare coins, he was in ­reality a married father living on a disability pension, with his wife Diane De Hedervary on a separate pension to be his carer.

He has admitted he was in a ­secret relationship with Barter ­before she went missing, but ­denies any involvement in her ­disappearance.

In 1997, Barter quit her job at the Southport School, hastily sold her home at a financial loss to travel overseas. She returned to Australia without telling family or friends and withdrew large sums of cash. There has been no trace of her since.

Constable Pinazza said in her statement of December 2021, sighted by The Australian, that she was unable to say if Barter was alive or dead.

Mr Blum did not have any known history of violence, but that did not rule out the possibility he harmed Barter, she said.

Marion Barter with her daughter Sally Leydon, in the last photo they had taken together.

“I am unable to determine whether Mr Blum did or did not cause Marion Barter harm or engage in action/s that resulted in her death.

“I do not believe a history ­devoid of recorded violence precludes such actions in exceptional circumstances.

“If Marion Barter is determined to be deceased, I cannot conclude by what means. I cannot exclude the possibilities of suicide or misadventure.”

Mr Blum may have based his version of events on publicly available information, despite him.

“While there are elements of Mr Blum’s version that are plausible, I do not believe the evidence in its entirety,” Constable Pinazza stated.

“I am not convinced that the accounts provided by Mr Blum are full and frank.

“There are elements of Mr Blum’s evidence that are not able to be assessed as truth in experience versus information derived from the public domain and require further investigation.”

One such example was Mr Blum’s claim he last saw Barter in the company of a man he believed to be a pilot or navy officer.

“There are other such ­examples, including information about Marion’s children, her sister, travel plans and the Orient ­Express, that also cannot be ­assessed.”

NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan will resume hearings in May.