Party fall actor had clash with Doherty

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Actor Mark Blanco was attacked shortly before plunging from a second-floor balcony

Rocker Pete Doherty was a guest at the party in Whitechapel, London.

Mark Blanco, the young actor who died after falling 30 feet from a Whitechapel balcony, had a confrontation with singer Pete Doherty only minutes before.

Mr Blanco, 30 was found dying after he attended a party at the home of Paul Roundhill, Doherty's literary agent.

• No 'third party' appeared to be involved in actor's death

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A crucial witness revealed that Mr Blanco had pinned Doherty to a wall, according to The Evening Standard.

Then the actor, who had just won his first theatre role, was thrown out of the party.

Minutes later he was found lying on the pavement below the balcony, dying from a massive head wound.

Doherty, 27, the boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss, left before officers arrived and is likely to be asked to make a statement to detectives.

The tragedy happened just 24 hours before the Babyshambles singer - who has a string of drug convictions - was fined £770 by magistrates for heroin possession.

Last night, toxicology tests were being carried out on Cambridge graduate Mr Blanco who was taken to hospital on Sunday morning and died on Monday. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from "severe head injuries".

Mr Blanco, a teacher's son, had arrived at the party in Whitechapel, East London, on Saturday night.

He was due to star in the play The Accidental Death of an Anarchist tonight. In a macabre twist, his character plunges to his death from the fourth floor of a Milan police station.

Some onlookers claimed Mr Blanco had a public bust-up with Doherty and that the pair had to be separated by the flat's owner, literary agent Paul Roundhill.

Other witnesses said he was "punched and kicked" by other revellers and fell over the metal railings minutes later.

According to friends, Doherty, his minder, known as Johnny Headlock, and Mr Roundhill started bullying Mr Blanco.

One friend said: "They wouldn't let him sit down and gave the only spare seat to the dog. Then they burnt his cap. Someone at the party, who was supposed to be a mate, punched him three times in the face before he was thrown out of the party.

"An ambulance was called but when the paramedics arrived he was alone, his watch had been taken and his glasses were missing.

"Doherty and his mate must have stepped over his dying body when they legged it."

But Mr Roundhill denied Doherty had been arguing with the actor and claimed the singer had been trying to calm an excitable Mr Blanco down.

"Pete wasn't involved at all," he said yesterday. "He was so upset at what happened. There was no fighting, Peter wasn't involved anyway apart from to help and to calm Mark down before the accident. They didn't have an argument. Mark was talking to Peter very excitedly about his play."

He even claimed that a "tired and emotional" Mr Blanco may have been trying to make a "creative statement" by plunging 30ft from the balcony.

Mr Roundhill added: "In the end I had to turf him out to protect my other guests.

"Nobody knows how he fell off the balcony. But I think he did not fall accidentally. In some way it seems he was doing a creative act or making a creative statement in his mind, having been ejected, by jumping."

But another friend of the dead man, comedian Jerry Sadowitz, said Mr Blanco had suffered from vertigo. He said: "I knew him too well and know he would never have done such a thing.

"It appears he was kicked and punched because he had so many broken bones and he had bruises everywhere.

"It was as though he had been punched several times. His hat was also found near him and it had been burned.

"He did not deserve to die this way. I'm so angry. The police need to do all they can to find out what happened."

Mr Roundhill, 51, admitted setting fire to Mr Blanco's hat but claimed he did it only "to distract him."

Police sources said last night they were currently treating the death as "non suspicious" and said there was no suggestion that Doherty was involved in the death.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "At this early stage it does not appear there was any third party involvement in the incident. However, police retain an open mind and inquiries continue."

Mr Blanco's mother, Sheila from Guildford, Surrey, said last night: "It's a very distressing time. The family has no comment to make."

After the party, Doherty returned to the trendy Malmaison hotel in Clerkenwell, East London, where his drunken antics led to staff calling police at 2.25am on Sunday.

Doherty and a female companion - not thought to be Miss Moss - had checked into a £200-a-night suite there on Thursday night.

Friends and hangers-on joined the singer for all-night parties and thousands of pounds' worth of damage was caused.

Doherty also disrupted a wedding party, set off the fire alarm and started a fist fight in the bar before fleeing when police were called.

A hotel spokesman said: "He's ripped out every wall light fitting, torn down the curtains, smashed every mirror, broken all the lamps, upturned all the furniture and wrecked the telephone and Internet connection sockets."

 

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