Pete Doherty’s claim over Whitechapel death fall ‘shameless’ says mother of victim

 
Pete Doherty
Emer Martin26 November 2012
WEST END FINAL

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The mother of an actor who plunged to his death after a late-night row with Pete Doherty at a party said today the singer’s latest comments on the tragedy were “shameless and risible”.

Doherty, 32, said he felt “sick to the stomach” after he “stepped over the body” of 30-year-old Mark Blanco, and “legged it” from a Whitechapel flat in December 2006. But he insisted there was no “foul play”.

Sheila Blanco, 67, said she would not stop “fighting for justice” for a police investigation into claims that her son was pushed by one or more party guests. She said: “Doherty is totally shameless.

He has gone public about his feelings and perhaps he wants money, who knows? If no one has anything to hide, why don’t they come out with what actually happened?”

Mr Blanco, a Cambridge graduate, was found unconscious 12 feet below the balcony of the flat owned by Paul Roundhill, Doherty’s literary agent.

He had gone to the party to try to persuade Doherty to attend the opening night of a play he was appearing in.

Doherty left the building before emergency services arrived. CCTV showed him running within feet of Mr Blanco.

The singer’s minder Johnny “Headlock” Jeannevol admitted causing the death, but retracted his confession.

Police believe Mr Blanco had jumped but a neurobiologist concluded that he could not have deliberately jumped and suffered such head injuries.

Mrs Blanco, an English lecturer who lives in Guildford, added: “Doherty is risible. There are a lot of very murky circumstances here, so I cannot take him seriously if he doesn’t address any of the unanswered questions.”

In an interview yesterday Doherty said: “In my heart, I pray and pray that his mother will stop punishing and torturing herself because she is convinced that there was foul play. But I am certain there wasn’t.”

He also revealed details about his “explosive romance” with Amy Winehouse.

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