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Pete Doherty
Party guest: singer Pete Doherty
Pete Doherty Emma and Sheila Blanco Mark Blanco

Death fall at Doherty party 'was not suicide'

Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent
26.11.09

An actor who fell to his death at a party attended by Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty could not have committed suicide, a report said today.

The family of Mark Blanco criticised the police handling of the case and demanded a new investigation.

Mr Blanco, a 30-year-old Cambridge graduate, fell from a balcony at a flat in Whitechapel in December 2006.

The original police inquiry concluded that he jumped but a coroner returned an open verdict and ordered an independent investigation in October 2007.

Police then decided they could not say whether Mr Blanco jumped or fell, possibly because of a "criminal act".

Mr Blanco's mother, Sheila, from Guildford, said she went through what might have happened that night every day: "I feel that anyone who dies in unexplained circumstances is worthy of a decent police investigation. Mark did not receive that."

The family commissioned specialist reports, including one by neurobiology expert Professor Richard Wassersug.

Professor Wassersug said a person in free fall would react instinctively to protect their head and that Mr Blanco could not have sustained his injuries had he jumped.

"To sustain lethal injury almost exclusively to the head in a fall from such a low height would require more than just drug-induced poor co-ordination and slow reflexes," he said in the report.

Mr Blanco's sister Emma said: "This is no longer just a fight for Mark. It is a fight as citizens of this country to stop things like this happening, to stop obvious crimes being ignored."

Doherty, 30, was a guest at the party and Mr Blanco tried to persuade him to attend the opening night of his play at a pub.

Doherty has told police he can't remember anything from that night.

Reader views (2)

 Add your view

I hope they get to the truth. Good Luck (although, it shouldn't be a case of luck!).

- Sue R, London

There should be an enquiry.

- Paul, Bromley


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