JUSTICE FOR JEAN
BY KEITH McLEOD k.mcleod@dailyrecord.co.uk THE suspicious death of a Scots mum in Crete may never be solved after prosecutors shelved the investigation.
It is a bitter blow to the family of Jean Hanlon, 53, who was found dead on the Greek island four days after sending a text message to a friend which said: “Help me”.
Jean’s body was discovered in a harbour in Crete in March 2009.
Police wrote it off as an accidental drowning.
But when her family insisted on a post mortem, it was revealed that Jean had a catalogue of injuries, including shattered ribs, a punctured lung and facial wounds.
Further tests revealed her neck had been broken before she hit the water.
The divorcee, from Dumfries, had lived in Crete since 2003.
She disappeared a few days before her body was found in the harbour at the capital Heraklion.
Now, nine years on, her family have been told that the investigation is at an end.
Jean’s son Michael Porter said: “We will not be giving up, despite this ridiculous decision.
“In effect, they are saying nothing more will be done without new evidence, and of course, without the continuing investigation, new evidence is unlikely to come to light.
“Our lawyer seems to have accepted the decision of prosecutors. He seems to have been worn down by the processes in Crete.
“But we can’t accept it. We will move on with a different lawyer and continue the fight for justice.”
Jean sent the “help me” text to her pal on a night out.
It emerged that in the hours before she vanished, the mum had arranged to meet two rival male friends in a bar.
Michael, 33, who is an actor, and his older brothers David and Robert, all of Dumfries, have battled tirelessly to find out what happened to their mum.
The family’s campaign forced the Greeks to open a murder inquiry and a Greek and a Belgian were questioned. Both men said they were innocent and were released without charge.
Michael appeared on a popular Greek TV chat show to talk about the case and met Greek consular officials in the UK.
He staged a theatrical show to raise cash to hire private investigators.
On Wednesday, Michael appeared before MPs at Westminster to talk about his experience trying to gain help from UK consulate officials.
He said: “The system has to change. We as a family have felt isolated in having to deal with foreign authorities.We don’t believe the UK Government’s embassies abroad do enough to help families in our position.
“The attitude seems to be that they don’t want to upset the host country and that the local authorities should be left alone to conduct investigations.
“We get that part of it, but we feel the UK consulate at no point pressured the Crete authorities enough when it was clear my mum’s death was suspicious and the Crete police were in denial.
“Also, UK families in our position do not even qualify for legal aid to hire lawyers when clearly there is a need to understand processes abroad.”