Bill McDonald
Appearances
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
I'm Bill McDonald, Detective Sergeant in the Devon and Cornwall Police. So I was a team leader, effectively.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
We felt that in the next couple of days, there would be something that would get reported, which was an explanation. Sooner or later, somebody would get reported missing.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
We were doing stuff within the media.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
We'd released a photograph of the tattoo.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
Obviously, within our police computer systems and databases, you can also search on tattoos.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
We were talking to different shipping companies.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
We got passenger manifests for different boats and stuff.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
I seem to recall there was a passenger reported missing from a cross-channel ferry, but over the coming days, sort of, actually, when you looked at the description, you looked at, you know, the person involved, none of it matched.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
You would think distinctive tattoo, circumstances, media coverage, press, something would come out somewhere. But it just didn't. It was just, it was just unexplained.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
An autopsy is looking at something which will give you more information. And you're looking for clues.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
The cause of death was recorded as drowning because of sea water detected in the lungs. So clearly, when the body entered the water, that person was breathing and they drowned. And that you would expect if somebody had fallen into the sea or if somebody was taking their own life or there was an accident at sea. Drowning would be the natural cause.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
And he said, look, Rolex keep records and you might be able to identify this person by contacting Rolex, right?
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
But when the son of a fisherman says something... Each Rolex watch has a, and we're talking obviously there's fake and there's real Rolexes, but a real Rolex will have a serial number which is recorded by Rolex. That's unique to that watch.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
And just over a week later... Rolex were able to tell us that, yes, the watch had been serviced, it had a service history, and it had been serviced at a jeweler's called Fattorini's in Harrogate.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
And sure enough, they had a record, a card in a filing system, which had the serial number of the Rolex watch, and then underneath had a name. R.J. Platt. And the Platt was P-L-A-T-T. R.J. Platt. Of course, it doesn't mean to say that just because the watch has got a service history from a man called Platt, that the person wearing the watch is the person called Platt.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
But it certainly took us further forward than where we were at that particular time.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
They matched. And by searching his service record, it confirmed the fact that they had a record of this tattoo.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
So we're starting to get some real progress.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
The brother lived in Hay-on-Wye. He welcomed me into his studio. He was a cartoonist.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
And he confirmed that actually the stars were in the shape actually of a Canadian maple leaf. And he talked about his brother having dual nationality and holding a Canadian passport and the fact that he loved Canada.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
I explained obviously the circumstances. We had a difficult conversation. He was clearly obviously distressed and perplexed and concerned and had absolutely no idea why his brother would be in Brixham or on the south coast of Devon.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
Are we talking about somebody who's taken their own life? Potentially this man, Platt, had some form of mental health worries.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
And you would think at that point it would be obvious as to right what had happened, but actually it wasn't. And we were equally perplexed and left scratching our heads thinking, well... What's this man's connection with Devon? And we couldn't find one. And that in itself was just very odd.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
You can imagine you work in a busy office with lots of people. Everybody had a suggestion. And I remember being frustrated with, you know, I was saying to a lot of people, without any evidence, you need evidence to draw a conclusion.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
Everybody had a theory. I look back on it now and smile because we had some fairly imaginative suggestions, but actually none of them were anywhere near the true reality and the story that unfolded, which was the most incredible story with the most sensational ending, I guess you would say.
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
And, you know, you're both looking at each other with some disbelief, I guess, as to, well, what's this all about?
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something Introduces | Uncover: Sea of Lies
There's too many unanswered questions. There's too many unknowns. Because it would seem that David Davis was probably, from what we could identify, one of the last people to see him alive.