That's kind of what I remember. I have always wondered about who actually spotted him. There is no indication of anyone like staff at the hotel mentioned. Although possible, I can't understand how anyone could say "ok he gets out of the elevator walks left and then right and then down two steps. Who pays attention that closely with so much precision? Frankly, If it was me, I probably
wouldn't notice anything unless he brought attention to himself. And perhaps he did and that was part of the plan. It doesn't sound. like he had enough time to leave the hotel and come back.

That seems weird to me. These days social media catches every single thing you do. Nothing is private anymore.
if her book is anti-Semitic she's lost all hope for me to believe ANYTHING she says. I may have tried to buy the book before I knew this. Horrified

I read most of the books. lol

Has anyone else seen what a Carolyn Ayer wrote on the Richey Facebook page?! Now there's a theory they probably didn't include in the book!

Something about the sister chopping him up and mailing bits to the Russian Embassy!

There's some crazy people out there lol.
Not sure what to make of the why the person would write it because it's so weird but I felt it worth mentioning!

I daresay they were just joking! (I hope).

I have always thought (sadly) that he killed himself but with a little hope. I base this on his prior attempt. (Side note: There is an interview with JDB where he says the first attempt was well documented. I remember at the time thinking nope I didn't know for sure and then I came to the board to see if others watched it. I have been trying to find that interview)

As far as his disappearance, I have lots of theories based on the ticket.

This person has been doing this all over the the FB band and a Richey pages for the past few days. I’m not sure if they’ve been hacked or they are going through a manic (psychological. Not the band) period. Either way, I’ve been careful not to respond or engage. I think others have been taking the same appraoch.

I think some people think there was a first attempt while others believe what Richey said of the event, that he was testing the limits of what his body was capable of handling and that it wasn’t a suicide attempt. He did have multiple scars on his wrists during the THB tour which suggests perhaps he just couldn’t admit to himself that he had tried to take his own life. :(

I have never believed he killed himself by jumping from the Severn Bridge, but after reading some of the pages in this new book, I think he was a lot more ill than any of us really believed so now I’m not sure. I still think he intended to disappear and start again somewhere and as someone else, but whether or not he made it depends on if he had help from someone because I don’t think he would have made it on his own.

Question: the passport he left behind in his flat is included in the new book and, as mentioned many times before and corroborated by Rachel, was clearly staged, but it also includes the photo taken when the band did their first gigs outside Britain in 90/91. Aren’t the last known photos of him supposed to have been for his passport renewal before heading to NYC? If he didn’t have his passport renewed, why did he have those photos taken? Maybe I’m really reaching here, but it does seem odd.

Definitely tongue in cheek. There's a sardonic tone throughout.

Completely separate to the above I'm confused as to where the anti-semitism accusations in relation to the book have originated from? From the
book? Her public facebook page? I get that if someone's read something in the book they won't want to quote it as that is likely being reviewed by a legal beagle at the minute but quite an accusation?

The hotel ticket and toll ticket up on the Richard Edwards site are interesting. To me it gives more credence to the idea that he may have left the hotel, returned and then checked out. From the oracle that is Google (!) it takes approx 2 and a half hours to reach the bridge from the Bayswater Road, of course the roads would have been quieter but it still couldn't have been much after midnight if he'd checked out at that point to never return and I wondered, because it's just a stamp and they haven't bothered to record a time how likely is it that they would have put the date as 1 Feb instead of still 31 January if it was not long after midnight? Funny to be that precise but not record the time.....but I don't know their procedures. Seems sloppy that the police didn't pick up on it. Unless they'd had a good credible eyewitness account telling them 7am - possibly whoever stamped it? Guessing that was done at the desk?

I'm not sure any of it says anything about what happened to him definitively but I guess if you can paint a clearer picture of his movements and actions you might have a better idea of his state of mind on that night

I think that's a great theory about his wrists and the fact that he may not have wanted anyone to know. So he wanted to minimize the attempt himself to carry on. I remember that JDB was upset with Simon Price when he reported that it was an attempt. Maybe he didn't want to believe it then but something changed his mind? Speculation as I can't find any documentation describing it as an attempt but now I think about it did it say that in the missing report"?

What does the book say regarding his mental health?? or that it was worse then we thought? I honestly believe he was very very sick. Things like beating his head against wall of hotel saying he wanted to go home or breaking his guitar and hitting himself with it at the Astoria has led me to believe that. More evidence to his state of mind is his obsession with Apocalypse Now, late night calls to nicky asking about the time, buying a meat cleaver. Someone on this forum I believe Bornagirl 76 told me the change his mental health it wasn't insidious or building up but was pretty dramatic and you could tell. IDK he was made to go to health farms after every tour, and was crying all the time so I think it was there and then he reached some breaking point. His last interview was sometimes incoherent and contradicting himself and the interview with MTV prior to the hospital and a couple of months after Philip's death seems to me immediate red flags. Again all of this is speculation. It was also reported as I said above that he was drinking, self harming and not eating sometime after he left hospital.

Sorry I seem to be rambling but based on all of this could he really have been able to pull off his disappearance without anyone else helping? The 2 weeks in the car have also been significant to me Now the ticket just adds to all kinds of theories and like you I also believe that he did not jump from the bridge.

Is this the first time we ever heard about the passport and old picture? What about this Vivian referred to? I don't want to go to the FB pages as I can already imagine what's being said there.

Is there any more info about the sell date for the book? Last I heard it was moved to March 1?

It's just a bad look for this forum to be talking about an individuals Facebook page, public or not. Apparently there's a whole book to take her to task on yet we're stuck talking about old social media posts.

Amazon still has the release date as 14 March.

I don't think checking the author for previous form is out of order. I was writing about an issue raised in her book. If I'd posted one of the numerous selfies or some random comment about her family or views on religion then that would've been irrelevant. Checking for a motive why a particular statement was written is pretty sensible whatever you're reading.

It's come from those who have already read the book.

We need to separate things here. I’m not a fan of the book or the author, but has she just said someone was “capitalist evil”. And he happens to be a Jew?
That’s not anti-semitism.
If she included/connected it with that he’s Jewish and that has to do with the “fact” he’s capitalist evil”, that’s another thing.

Which one is it?

It kind of is. Jews are often characterised as having control of money on a global scale. This meme was quite common in Nazi propoganda and the stereotype is still promulgated today by antisemites in the right, and left. Whether SHR was intentional is sort of besides the point.

Plus as record execs go, Rob Stringer isn't exactly known for being that bit of a shithead. He stood by the band through thick and thin. It seems that once again, SHR targets those closest to the band purely out some mixture of spite and envy.