Postbag
Selected Comments
(comments appear in reverse chronological order)
"I just wanted to say that your earlier visitor is right - there was definitely one of these signs at the cattle market bus station, and it was definitely 2PM, not 3PM. I hadn't heard any talk about it like he/she had, but I sat next to that sign five days a week for about six months in 2002 when I used to catch the bus home from work, so it always stuck in my mind. I had no idea there was such a serious story attached though."
C.N. ~ Capel St Mary
"I don't reckon the seven memorial at the football ground is real. I've been going there for years and I only noticed it around April or May. It could of been there before but I doubt it."
L.K. ~ Ipswich
"I heard you on Radio Suffolk last night, and I've just looked through the site for the first time. I hadn't heard of Peter Marlin or this story before, but I worked in the Mind charity shop in Ipswich for a couple of months last summer [2003] and there was this guy who came in quite a lot and used to chat to staff. I don't know if he was homeless, but he mentioned the PM man a few times. We never knew what he meant, but when you used those words last night it all made sense. I can't believe nothing's been done about this man."
P.G. ~ Ipswich
"I've visited the site before, and I wasn't sure how genuine all this was, but after listening to your interview on the radio tonight I just wanted to say you've convinced me. It was particularly good to hear some of your original tapes, I think they'd convince a lot of the doubters like me. It prompted me to visit the website again, and I just wanted to point out something I just noticed - the way Peter Marlin writes the letter 'P' in his notes is different to how he writes it on the memorials. I wonder if it means it's two people working together - one does all the notes, the other does all the memorials. Just a thought. Keep up the good work."
M.F. ~ Bury St Edmunds
"A friend told me you were going to be on the radio tonight, so I've just been listening. I told my husband about all this ages ago, and he says it's just an urban myth, but I heard about this man over a year ago before any of the things you talk about happened. People used to say there was some guy bumping off drug addicts in Ipswich and making it look like overdoses. I always believed it was true, and now I've heard your story it just proves it."
H.G. ~ Woodbridge
"I don't really have any theories, but I just wanted to say that the way he writes the double 'L's in the notes is weird. I've never seen anyone else write it like that. It's only in the first and fourth notes though, and not at the start. I just wondered if it meant something."
P.P. ~ Ipswich
"I live in Shotley Gate so I know Marsh Lane and the building you talk about. I just wondered if Peter Marlin wanted to kill you there because it's near the marina, and he could've made a quick getaway by boat. He would know the police would take at least 20 minutes to get there by road from Ipswich, but he could run straight down the hill to the marina where he had a boat waiting, and be in Harwich in 5 minutes. It would take an hour to get there by car, and on top of that, he wouldn't risk meeting the police on the way. If it was his final murder, he could even have jumped straight on a ferry and left the country for good. Maybe that's why he wanted to meet at exactly 7pm - he might have had a ticket booked on a ferry. Is there any way of checking this out?"
M.L. ~ Shotley Gate
"I think it's all true, and you were his final victim because you were a journalist and he knew that would get him publicity for his crimes. He wanted to kill people that no one would notice, but then when he'd done it all, he wanted publicity, so he had to kill someone different. That was his motive for trying to kill you."
N.R. ~ Stowmarket
"I agree with what the police said. You have to ask yourself which is more likely - that it was a homeless man asleep, or that a serial killer had committed 20 murders without anyone noticing. And you said yourself that the body appeared unharmed and there was no blood. It doesn't sound like a murder victim does it. I also think the reason Marlin wrote the memorial on the door was deliberately to attract your attention and distract you so that you wouldn't have time to examine the body properly. If you'd had longer, you'd have realised he wasn't dead."
S.W. ~ Norwich
"I know you say that the Foundation Street car park seems an unlikely place for a murder, but it's not that far from the Salvation Army hostel in Fore Street, and it's on the way to the town centre, so you do get homeless people hanging around near there in Tacket Street. Also you say that the management probably remove graffiti quite quickly, but the memorial's still there now in June 2004 which is 9 months after you found it, and it looks the same as your photo, so it could be much older than you thought."
R.S. ~ Ipswich
"There's a memorial which says 7PM at the football ground in Portman Road, near the corner of Portmans Walk. It's written on the wall there at the back of the Cobbold Stand."
D.R. ~ Ipswich
"Everyone seems to assume that if Vic was dead, then Peter Marlin can't be a hoaxer, but even if Vic WAS dead, it doesn't follow that Marlin killed him. Vic was homeless and for all we know was a drug addict too. It's possible he died naturally of a drug overdose, and Peter Marlin just took his body to Shotley and left him there as part of the hoax. Druggies are dropping dead all the time in a place like Ipswich."
J.M. ~ Martlesham Heath
"I wanted to point out that the first memorial you found said 11PM, and then two days later, that was the exact time that Vic disappeared. It might not be just a coincidence."
A.H. ~ Colchester
"I didn't know anything about this case, but I was reading a discussion about it on an internet newsgroup, so I thought I'd take a look at the site. I've read through the whole thing now, and one point which no one seems to mention (too scared?) is that you could be personally responsible for the death of Vic AND John. You say that Vic can't have been killed because you printed his interview, but that's not the point - you TALKED to both Vic AND John, and Peter Marlin could have been watching both times. Even if he didn't know what was said, he knew they'd both talked to you, and killed them for grassing him up. You'll never admit it but you've got their blood on your hands. I know you won't publish an e-mail like this, but someone should tell you the truth."
J.W. ~ London
"You say that Peter Marlin used American sized paper for his notes, well there are lots of American Air Force bases around Suffolk. I just wonder if he could be an American, or someone who works on one of the bases. They have their own shops with goods from the USA, so he could of bought the paper there. Also, the way you say about him charging into you outside the brick building, it sounds like an American Football move, the way they sack the quarterback. He also spelt colour the American way."
T.F. ~ Newmarket
"I've seen one of your memorials on the wall at the side of Club XS in Chevallier Street. I think it says 16PM. A few people have mentioned it just lately, and some bloke pointed it out to me on Friday night. Don't know when it appeared though."
M.T. ~ Ipswich
"I was blown away by this site. I heard stories about this Peter Marlin guy from way back, probably 2002 or late 2001. It was never anything much, but I've lived in Ipswich all my life, and you just hear odd little things, about some guy who's going around killing tramps. I'd never heard a name, but a couple of times I heard him referred to as the PM man. I just assumed it was because he came out at night, I didn't realise it was his initials. I couldn't believe it when someone told me there was a website about all this. There definitely used to be one of those memorials down at the old cattle market bus station. I used to see it every day when I got the bus there. My sister and I disagree on what number it was - I say 2PM, but she says it was 3PM. But it's not there any more. It was painted on a bus shelter, I think we first saw it around March of 2002, or maybe a bit earlier, but they've repainted it all since, so it's gone now."
L.G. ~ Ipswich
Copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved
