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Interesting thread. Rui's fly from Porto certainly looks like variegata. The vesica is indeed larger than it generally is, but this feature can vary somewhat in this group of species.

Nice illustrations John! You have labelled one as carnaria and one as variegata, but in my opinion both are carnaria.

Pape (1987) and Richet et al. (2011) are excellent references, but I also think Chris Raper's side-by-side photos actually show the differences between the three British species quite nicely.

I recently created a Facebook group about British Sarcophagidae (https://www.facebook.com/groups/459564384954251/) in case anyone is interested. Just yesterday I posted a couplet with annotated photos distinguishing males of S. carnaria and S. variegata, which I attach also here. Other characters can also be used to distinguish the two species, but I think these work quite well.

EDIT: the file is too large to attach, you can find it in the Facebook group or PM me and I'll email it to you if interested.