Reader's Digest Australia Dec/Jan 2025

66   December 2025/january 2026 reader ’ s digest “Apparently,” Clenahan said. “But I don’t think we should go into this on the phone. Could you go to the local station in Chelmsford and tell us a little bit about Mr Platt?” “Of course.” On August 22 a 1.8m-tall, dapper man with a dark beard walked into the Chelmsford station. He had an oval face, a strong chin and shining brown eyes, and carried himself with confidence and poise. He identified himself as David Davis. Sergeant Redman, a friendly, round-faced plain clothes detective with closely cropped hair, welcomed his visitor. “You knew Ronald Joseph Platt?” Redman asked. “Yes, I did,” Davis said, thoughtfully stroking his beard. “I’ve known him for a couple of years. He’s a friend. Kindred spirit, really. But I under- stood he’d left for France to set up a business there.” “When did you last see him?” “June, I believe.” “Did he leave an address?” “No. But I was anticipating hearing from him.” Davis added that before Platt left, he had his mail redirected to Davis’s address, Little London Farm. While Davis was still there, Redman called Clenahan and passed the phone to Davis so the two men could talk directly. Davis told the detective constable that Platt had two brothers. He was not sure where they lived, but he did According to Rolex records, the watch had been serviced twice in the 1980s, both times by an authorised dealer in Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Following a call to the dealer, Clenahan asked the local police to confirm a name: Ronald Joseph Platt, born March 22, 1945. National and personal records allowed them to track the victim from Harrogate to 100 Beardsley Drive, in Chelmsford, Essex, some 400km east of where the body was found. Armed with this information, Clena- han called the Chelmsford police to ask them to find out what they could about the victim. There, Sergeant Peter Redman came up with one useful piece of information: Platt’s landlord still had the name and mobile number of a reference Platt had provided when he’d moved in six months earlier. It was a Mr David Davis. Redman gave the phone number to Clenahan. When the detective dialled it, a man answered. “Is that David Davis?” “Yes, it is.” “David Davis who acted as a refer- ence for a Ronald Platt, who leased a flat in Chelmsford?” “Yes. Who is this?” “Constable Ian Clenahan of the Devon and Cornwall police, Mr Davis. There’s been an accident at sea and a body has been found. We believe it may be your friend Mr Platt.” “Oh, my God! Are they absolutely certain?” readersdigest.com.au   67 Bonus Read Army dental records had confirmed Platt’s identity. Then the police man- aged to track down one of Platt’s broth- ers, Brian. The deadman was definitely Ronald, the brother said. He explained that the tattoo on the right hand was not a five-pointed star but a maple leaf. His brother had been raised in Canada and loved that country. Brian gave them more useful information: Ron had had a girlfriend, Elaine Boyes. They had been together off and on for more than 12 years, but three years earlier, in 1993, they had broken up. By this point the investigation had extended into October. It had been two-and-a-half months since the corpse was found. At long last it seemed it was nearly time to lay Platt’s body, and the file, to rest. Just one question remained: how did he end up at the bottom of the sea? Since David Davis seemed to have been the dead man’s only friend, Clenahan wanted to talk to him one more time. The detective had trouble reaching Davis on his mobile, so he called Sergeant Redman, his colleague in Chelmsford, for another favour: could he go out to Davis’s house and ask him to call the Devon and Corn- wall police department? On October 14 Redman, dressed in civilian clothes, drove to Little London Lane. There, he found four houses. Two had signs on their gates, but neither one said Little London Farm, know that the dead man’s mother was living in High Wycombe. Also, Platt had done a stint in the army. All interesting material , Clenahan thought. They were lucky to have found this fellow Davis. With a little more luck, he might be able to close the file on this case. He especially wanted to wrap it up now that a new detective chief inspector (DCI) for Devon and Cornwall, Phil Sincock, had arrived. Identity Crisis Sincock had come to his post with impeccable credentials. He first came to national attention in 1990, when he took on a murder case that had been unsolved for ten years and conclusively pinned it on a criminal already doing time for kidnapping. It was exceptional detective work, especially for someone without a university degree. As a young man Sincock quit school when his father fell on hard times and got a job in a local tin mine. Later, when his father became a civilian worker for the police, Phil followed, becoming a uniformed constable at the age of 19, and later a detective. He was quickly earning a reputation as a fine detective. And he was known to be a hard taskmaster. So far it appeared as though his detective skills were hardly needed for the Platt case. It was being treated as an accident and, in part thanks to Davis’s information, it was coming along well.