Posted on 05/03/2006 5:53:34 PM PDT by blam
From London soup kitchen to a raft in Scandinavian sea
By Amy Iggulden
(Filed: 04/05/2006)
Police are trying to solve the mystery of how a homeless man living rough in London ended up on a makeshift raft drifting in the sea off Scandinavia.
The castaway, who claimed that he had been drifting for four days, was traced back to a soup kitchen in central London.
George Williams was dehydrated and frostbitten when rescued
The centre identified him as George Williams, 46, who had been living on the streets for several years. Staff said he was last seen there two months ago.
Mr Williams was rescued from the raft made of oil drums in the Skagerrak strait, between Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
He claimed to have been thrown overboard from a British ship, but has given Swedish police conflicting accounts of his background and refuses to give details of his life.
Mr Williams, who has an eastern European accent, was dehydrated and frostbitten when he was discovered by a Norwegian gas tanker heading for Sweden on April 21.
He was identified by staff at Whitefield Memorial Church, Tottenham Court Road, as a regular visitor to its soup kitchen. Lay workers and clergy are now worried for his safety.
They said he was a private man and had offered no details of his family or upbringing, but had carried out impressive painting work at the centre and was always smartly dressed.
Miranda Macdonald, the church secretary, said yesterday: "We are all puzzled and upset for George. For somebody to do something like that they must be in some distress."
Police say he has given confusing versions of his past, first claiming to be a "stateless American", and saying he had been born in Cape Town in 1959 before being adopted by a Russian Jewish family at 12 months old.
Thomas Fuxborg, a spokesman for the Swedish police, said they were holding Mr Williams without restrictions in an immigration centre in Gothenburg until his nationality could be established.
Information about his immigration status was expected to come to light today when papers held at the church were passed to police.
Mr Fuxborg said the Metropolitan Police were also expected to confirm that Mr Williams was required to report to a London police station each week.
Voice tests have been carried out to trace the accent. A spokesman for Unleash, a homelessness organisation that works with churches in London, said: "Homeless people often do not want to give out their story because they have left difficult situations behind."
The case has echoes of the "piano man" mystery, in which Andreas Grassl, a 20-year-old Bavarian who was said to play the piano well, could not be identified for months. He was found on a beach in the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, in a soaking wet suit on April 7 last year.
BTW, does anyone know what became of the 'piano man' mentioned at the end of the article?
Man wants to be free more than anything.
"No Exit" indeed.
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