A Staggering Myth

It's time to explode the myth that Mike Barrett was so stunned by the fact of storage heaters having been installed in Paul Dodd's house that he staggered backwards upon hearing about it while standing at the foot of some stairs outside the house in February 1993.

This story is part of the Battlecrease scam because it's used by diary defenders to suggest that the staggering showed that Mike suddenly realized the diary must have been found by Eddie Lyons when he installed the storage heaters.

THE MYTH

The myth was, of course, started by Paul Feldman in his 1997 book (p.132 of the Virgin Books edition) when he wrote:

"Paul Dodd...went on to explain that the new storage radiators had been installed in 1988 or 1989. I was standing at the top of the small flight of stairs that led from the garden to the back door. As the house had been converted into separate flats, this was Mr Dodd's "front" door. To my right at the bottom of the stairs stood Paul, Martin and Mike. Mike's reaction to Mr Dodd's statement played on our minds for months. He visibly staggered backwards. Had something connected?"

It won't come as any surprise to anyone reading this that the credulous Chief Diary Defender, Caroline Morris-Brown, despite knowing all about the unreliability of the notorious fantasist Paul Feldman, swallowed this yarn hook, line and sinker, posting on Casebook on 27th February 2018:

"Not to mention the fact that Mike appeared to stagger back in amazement the following Spring, when Paul Dodd was talking about work having been done on the house. Why the reaction, if he knew this already and it had prompted his call to Doreen? And why spend the rest of his life denying any connection with the house?"

So Mike's stagger, we were told, required an explanation, and the explanation was that he was hearing about it for the first time and it told him where the diary had come from.

She returned to the same question two years later:

"...why, when Feldman et al went to the house in the Spring of 1993, did Mike visibly stagger backwards when Paul Dodd said that electric storage heaters had been installed in 1988 or 9?' Such news would have been of no possible interest to Mike if he knew the photo album had come from an auction in March 1992 and been turned into the diary in early April. Old houses were bound to have electrical work done at some point, so if Mike had no idea who Eddie was or what he did for a living, why did he react like a stunned rabbit when he heard that the house formerly known as Battlecrease was no exception?"

Why did Mike visibly stagger backwards, she demanded to know. Why did he react like a stunned rabbit? The answers to these questions would, apparently, explain the origins of the diary.

A year later she lectured us that Mike didn't stagger backwards just because Paul Dodd mentioned some electrical work having been done. There was more to it.

"He surely didn't stagger backwards in surprise when he had visited Battlecrease with Feldy and co, just because Paul Dodd mentioned that some electrical work had been done there at some point."

There had to be another reason for the stagger, according to the Chief.

Another year passed and she was back to a familiar theme on JTR Forums although, oddly, no mention this time of the "stagger". Instead we were told that Mike had been "visibly shocked" to learn of the electrical work:

"I think if Mike had been aware of the Battlecrease angle before his call to Doreen, he'd have been well prepared for what happened the following year, when he accompanied Paul Feldman, Paul Begg and Martin Howells to the house. Mike was visibly shocked when Paul Dodd said that electrical work had been done there. His nightmares were only just beginning..."

Perhaps her temporary discarding of the stagger had something to do with some information received from Martin Howells as casually thrown out by Jay Hartley on JTR Forums two days later:

"How would you explain Mike's reaction when he visited Battlecrease House in February 1993 with Feldman and learned that work had recently been done? I understand from Martin Howells' account that Mike went white as a sheet and had to go outside. Did he realise that Eddie may not have been 100% truthful? This coincidence prompted Feldman to explore the electricians in the first place. He gave up when he didn't think the dates worked and that the electricians might be trying to con him. He didn't know of the 1992 worksheets."

The story had changed! Now Mike went "white as a sheet and had to go outside" even though, on Feldman's telling on the story, he had already been outside while Paul Dodd was speaking to the assembled group. Now he was inside the house but there was no visible staggering, simply a change of colour in his face.

Four months later, Keith Skinner chipped in with a statement in which we were informed that there was "eye witness testimony" from Paul Begg, Martin Howells and Paul Feldman about the incident. But what did all this eye witness testimony say? Did it mention the staggering? Possibly not, for, according to Skinner, they all reported that Mike had been "noticeably stunned" upon learning that electrical work had "recently" been done in the house (even though Feldman said Mike learnt it had been done in 1988 or 1989). But how did these three witnesses notice that Mike had been stunned? Was it through a stagger or through him being as white as a sheet? Skinner didn't tell us but simply posted via his acolyte, Tom Mitchell:

"Where we do have some eye witness testimony is from Paul Begg, Martin Howells and Paul Feldman who reported how noticeably stunned Mike was when they all went to Battlecrease House in early 1993 making their own enquiries and learned that electrical work had recently been done in the house."

Mitchell, as we can see in his comment in blue below Keith's (above), felt able to explain that Mike was obviously stunned because he "physically staggered back".

Perhaps the Chief Diary Defender would clarify it in her post on Casebook of 12th July 2023:

'In February 1993, Paul Feldman, Paul Begg and Martin Howells all remembered/remember Mike's unexpected reaction to being told by Paul Dodd that electrical work had been done on his house. Unless they were/are all lying, mistaken or hallucinating too, there was a reaction from Mike, which would not have made a whole lot of sense if he had known since March 1992 what you suggest he may have learned from Eddie before he made that first call to Doreen.' 

Nope! It was now a vague and unparticularised "unexpected reaction" by Mike Barrett which, even though she couldn't quite say what it was, must have occurred. Otherwise, you see, Feldman, Begg and Howells were either all lying, mistaken or hallucinating.

By now, RJ Palmer had smelt a rat and asked what was the source of Martin Howells' testimony and what does Paul Begg recall about the incident.

Not answering the question at all, Caroline Morris Brown posted on 18th July 2023 that Begg, Feldman and Howells had all seen "a temporary loss of footing" which has "never been forgotten". So now we are back to the memorable and remarkable staggering:

"Right, so Paul Begg, Paul Feldman and Martin Howells all mistook a temporary loss of footing for a lightning-quick reaction by Mike to the mention of electrical work, which played on their minds for months - and has never been forgotten? If this was 'poetic fiction' on Feldy's part [and not wishful thinking on RJ's], I'd have thought either Paul Begg or Martin Howells would have happily denied noticing any more than a drinker's coincidental slip, knowing what Feldy's imagination was like.

Three eye and ear witnesses all remembering Mike's instant reaction to what was said, but describing it in a slightly different way? Perhaps it never happened. Maybe they were all hallucinating.

If this is the standard of critical thinking employed, to keep the Barrett hoax conspiracy theory alive, then I'm surprised nobody has questioned the shooting of JFK, due to so many witnesses giving wildly different versions of the event and his reaction. Was too much read into it? Did JFK just have some minor seizure when a car happened to backfire?"

Again, we were being told that three witnesses all remembered "Mike's instant reaction" (defined as his temporary loss of footing) so must have been hallucinating if there was no such reaction.

THE REALITY

Having corresponded with Martin Howells (a distinguished member of orsam.co.uk), I can now state that the supposed visible stagger of Mike Barrett is a fiction. It never happened.

What Martin Howells told me is that during a conversation with Paul Dodd inside a room in Dodd's house, Mike Barrett felt unwell and needed to go outside for some air. Whether this was because of something Paul Dodd had said or whether it was totally unrelated remains unclear (and Howells doesn't know).

So here is what Martin Howells said about the incident in his own words, on 15 July 2024:

"During that meeting with Paul Dodd and Paul Feldman with Barrett and me present, I asked Paul when he had the night storage radiators put in. His reply is on the video I directed for Paul Feldman. You should check it for yourself but I think he said that he had them put in between 1989 and 1992. I have done quite a lot of building work in my time including the installation of electrical circuits, but I didn't fully comprehend the importance this seed would have in the mind of Paul Feldman. "Were there any floorboards lifted?" It was a long time ago but I think it was Paul Feldman who actually voiced this possibility, not me. But it was definitely put forward as an enquiry, to which Paul Dodd replied that there had been. At this point Barrett became visibly uncomfortable. I wouldn't say "staggered" but he felt the need for some air. I went with him outside. I can't remember specifically what I asked him but I tried (unsuccessfully) to find out what was on his mind, but he was in no mood to talk."

Subsequently he added by way of clarification:

"All I can say at this distance is that I have a memory in my head of being indoors and going outside with Mike alone. Under cross examination I would have to admit that my 31 year old reflection could be inaccurate. But I clearly remember a reaction that Mike had whilst standing in PD's living room, and I remember accompanying him to take some air. In support of the essential reality of my memory: I don't think PF's recollections make any sense. What could have been said in the initial introductory conversation with Paul Dodd on his doorstep that would initiate a shocked reaction from Mike? I certainly don't remember getting into anything controversial whilst Paul simply introduced us to PD on the doorstep before PD invited us in. The conversation proper only started after we were shown into the living room."

He also confirmed that he thought the incident did not happen while the filming of the documentary was taking place in September 1993 (as seemed to be implied by his first statement) but earlier than this.

In further questioning by me, he confirmed that Mike did not turn white as a sheet and that this was "hyperbole". All that can be said is that he became visibly uncomfortable. He stated:

"My recollections to the best of my ability at this distance was that Barrett felt unwell and wanted to go outside, no more and no less".

Very fairly, he accepted that Mike feeling unwell might not have had any connection to what Paul Dodd had said.

What was it that Paul Dodd had said? In Howells' memory, it wasn't that storage heaters had been installed but that the floorboards had been lifted during the installation of the storage heaters, something not mentioned at all by Feldman, which is curious.

What's clear, though, is not only that there was no visible stagger by Mike with associated loss of footing but neither was he "noticeably stunned" nor did he turn white.

A POSSIBLE CAUSE

As we've seen, Mike became unwell and looked uncomfortable. I don't know whether this occurred exactly at the moment that Paul Dodd mentioned storage heaters or floorboards, and I don't think Martin Howells does either, but it seems to me that Mike, who wasn't in the best of health, might just have had a dizzy spell or suffered from some nausea, or something like that.

From a report of a medical examination on 28 February 1996 (posted by Caroline Morris-Brown in summary form on Casebook on 28 January 2022), we know that Mike had suffered six dizzy spells over twelve months. The doctor also mentioned that he had had episodes of altered awareness and lost consciousness due to an unknown cause. Importantly, the same doctor also reported a non functioning kidney. Barrett had had a non functioning kidney since at least March 1982 which was then being medically observed in case of development of hypertension. He was at that time (March 1982) being treated for frequency and urgency of micturition which is a symptom of kidney disease. Other symptoms of kidney disease (i.e. loss of kidney function) include nausea, shortness of breath and chest pain. During the very month that the incident at Paul Dodd's house occurred, Doreen Montgomery wrote to Paul Feldman, in a letter dated 9 February 1993, to inform him that "Mike suffers from renal failure" (Inside Story, p. 28). It strikes me that Mike's desire for air in 1993 might have been as a result of suffering from nausea or shortness of breath due to his confirmed non-functioning kidney. It doesn't need to have anything to do with what Paul Dodd said.

THE STRAGE DIARY DEFENDER THEORY

I've never even understood the diary defender theory whereby Mike suddenly realized that the diary which he'd bought off Eddie Lyons must have been found in Battlecrease and that he was utterly shocked by the news.

Surely he would have been delighted. All the researchers had been pressing him about the origins of the diary. He knew the diary needed a provenance for it to be accepted as James Maybrick's diary. If he'd been given the diary by Eddie Lyons and he now realized that it had been found under the floorboards of James Maybrick's old house by Eddie, who happened to be working in the house that day, it would surely have demonstrated that the diary was genuine and Mike would have been sitting on a goldmine. He would have had the real diary of Jack the Ripper.

So why didn't he shout out the great news to all and sundry?

Well it's said that Mike didn't want to split on a mate. He didn't want to drop Eddie Lyons in it and needed to protect his friend who had stolen the diary.

The problem with this is that, according to Paul Feldman, Eddie Lyons freely admitted to finding the diary in Battlecrease! Not only that but Feldman told Mike that Eddie had admitted to finding it.

So that couldn't have been the problem. Now that Eddie Lyons was saying he'd found the diary, why didn't Mike reveal that Eddie had given the diary to him? He would have been free from any worries about splitting on a mate. That mate had already confessed!

The only thing Mike could have been worried about was that Paul Dodd might claim ownership of the diary but, again, we know from Feldman that Dodd was willing to do a deal whereby he would only ask for 5% of Mike's income from the diary.

Mike wasn't totally stupid. He would have known that there was far more money to be made from a Jack the Ripper diary with provenance rather than one for which he purportedly knew no more than that it had been given to him by the deceased Tony Devereux.

Even if, in February 1993, Mike had thought he could convince the world that the diary was genuine, he would surely have had a change of heart once the Sunday Times declared it to be a fake in September 1993 following the Rendell report which was circulated before Shirley Harrison's book had even been published, requiring a sticker to be put on the book telling people to decide for themselves whether the diary was genuine or not. All Mike then had to do was say that the diary had been found in Battlecrease by an electrician and all his problems, and those of his publisher (who was sued by the Sunday Times), would have been solved.

Maybe someone - perhaps one of those diary defenders who post in the comments section of this website before running away in terror when they're asked a question - can explain to me why he didn't do this.

NO STAGGERING, NO STUNNING

All that aside, it's clear from actual witness testimony that Mike Barrett did not visibly stagger nor was he visibly stunned by anything that Paul Dodd had said.

Every single diary defender (i.e. Morris-Brown, Hartley, Mitchell, Skinner, Johnston) has known all about this since 20th July but not one of them has posted a correction to straighten the record and repair the damage caused by their false statements.

It falls to me, as usual, to perform a public service and reveal the facts.

LORD ORSAM

22 August 2024