Justice for Jean
Donation protected
June 2019 update
At the end of 2017, my brothers and I filmed a documentary for Channel 5 entitled ‘Murdered in Paradise - The Killing of Jean Hanlon’ and this was finally aired on 10 June this year. This went through mum’s story in detail with both reconstructions of her last known movements plus witness statements and these clearly show the glaring inaccuracies and omissions in the investigation of the case
If you missed this programme, you can view it on My5 here
I have started up a petition and I am imploring you to sign and share this extensively in the hope that it will be spread far and wide and ultimately bring enough signatures for someone to finally take notice and ensure that mum’s case is re-opened, thoroughly investigated, and justice is served
This petition has nearly got to 5,000 signatures but we need to more than double this number to get it to the people who might be able to help
You can view, sign and share the petition by clicking here
My brother David will be visiting Gouves in June and in August, I will be accompanying my 23 year old niece, Rebecca, to the area. She is making the brave trip to see the place that her Gran loved so much yet ultimately brought about her death. I will be sharing with her the emotional journey to Mum’s favourite places and also to the places we would rather not visit...but have to.
We are all very keen to raise awareness of the case during these visits so if anyone can help with this it would be appreciated. Any information, no matter how insignificant it might seem, could be the small piece of evidence we need to get the case re-opened
If you are not fully aware of what happened, you can read Mum’s full story below
Our mum, Jean Hanlon/Porter disappeared on Monday 9 March 2009 and her bruised and battered body was pulled from Heraklion Harbour on Friday 13 March 2009.
My brothers and I flew out to Crete and were taken straight to the morgue where we had to identify her scarcely recognisable body. We were told that the initial post mortem had decreed that her death was an accidental drowning, however after seeing her horrific numerous injuries, we realised that this conclusion was incorrect and this was backed up by information we had been told leading up to her disappearance.
Focusing on this awful image together with further personal research, we persisted with the authorities that there was no way this could have been a total accident. Our diligence and perseverance led them to give us an updated version of their original post mortem findings and we were then told that her injuries were such that she would have been dead before entering the water. She had a broken neck, shattered ribs, punctured lung and showed signs of a struggle. This information then led to the official final declaration that her body must have been discarded in the water by persons as yet unidentified.
We are fully aware that there was no second post mortem done, so we fear that maybe, if we hadn’t pushed the authorities, our mum’s death would have stayed as ‘just another accident’ and that this could have led to important evidence being overlooked and/or discarded.
Since then, we have given all the information we have to the authorities in Heraklion and there have been intermittent episodes of investigation that have led nowhere. We feel, with increasing frustration, that they are just not digging deep enough as there are still many unanswered questions and inconsistencies that have not been fully investigated and explored thoroughly. The case was archived in 2015 but was then re-opened after my personal meeting with the Greek Ambassador in London who shook my hand and was very helpful and supportive. He then wrote a personal letter, on Embassy headed paper, to the Greek prosecutor giving his support to our case.
We found a Greek lawyer who worked tirelessly for us but in mid-2018 he felt that he had done all he could and relinquished the case which has since been archived again by the prosecutor in Heraklion. We have since spoken to a new lawyer who has advised us that he agrees that there are many unanswered questions and inaccuracies in the case but unless new information/evidence comes to light, there are no actual grounds at present to re-open the case. We are however fully aware that, according to Greek law, the case will remain filed until 2029 when it will be closed for ever
It has always been our family’s focus to get justice for our mum, however over the 10 years, I have committed my best efforts to also raise awareness of the plight of those who are going through a similar trauma and to try and make a difference for anyone who has this living hell thrust upon them. I have recently written to several people including the Greek President and Prime Minister as well as Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party however I have had no pro-active response from any of them to date
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Mum’s death and to commemorate this I have put together a memorial video which showcases the highs and lows we have experienced and it also reiterates my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has helped and supported us over the past 10 years. Please click on the link below to view this
10-year memorial video
At the end of 2017, my brothers and I filmed a documentary for Channel 5 entitled ‘Murdered in Paradise - The Killing of Jean Hanlon’ and this was finally aired on 10 June this year. This went through mum’s story in detail with both reconstructions of her last known movements plus witness statements and these clearly show the glaring inaccuracies and omissions in the investigation of the case
If you missed this programme, you can view it on My5 here
I have started up a petition and I am imploring you to sign and share this extensively in the hope that it will be spread far and wide and ultimately bring enough signatures for someone to finally take notice and ensure that mum’s case is re-opened, thoroughly investigated, and justice is served
This petition has nearly got to 5,000 signatures but we need to more than double this number to get it to the people who might be able to help
You can view, sign and share the petition by clicking here
My brother David will be visiting Gouves in June and in August, I will be accompanying my 23 year old niece, Rebecca, to the area. She is making the brave trip to see the place that her Gran loved so much yet ultimately brought about her death. I will be sharing with her the emotional journey to Mum’s favourite places and also to the places we would rather not visit...but have to.
We are all very keen to raise awareness of the case during these visits so if anyone can help with this it would be appreciated. Any information, no matter how insignificant it might seem, could be the small piece of evidence we need to get the case re-opened
If you are not fully aware of what happened, you can read Mum’s full story below
Our mum, Jean Hanlon/Porter disappeared on Monday 9 March 2009 and her bruised and battered body was pulled from Heraklion Harbour on Friday 13 March 2009.
My brothers and I flew out to Crete and were taken straight to the morgue where we had to identify her scarcely recognisable body. We were told that the initial post mortem had decreed that her death was an accidental drowning, however after seeing her horrific numerous injuries, we realised that this conclusion was incorrect and this was backed up by information we had been told leading up to her disappearance.
Focusing on this awful image together with further personal research, we persisted with the authorities that there was no way this could have been a total accident. Our diligence and perseverance led them to give us an updated version of their original post mortem findings and we were then told that her injuries were such that she would have been dead before entering the water. She had a broken neck, shattered ribs, punctured lung and showed signs of a struggle. This information then led to the official final declaration that her body must have been discarded in the water by persons as yet unidentified.
We are fully aware that there was no second post mortem done, so we fear that maybe, if we hadn’t pushed the authorities, our mum’s death would have stayed as ‘just another accident’ and that this could have led to important evidence being overlooked and/or discarded.
Since then, we have given all the information we have to the authorities in Heraklion and there have been intermittent episodes of investigation that have led nowhere. We feel, with increasing frustration, that they are just not digging deep enough as there are still many unanswered questions and inconsistencies that have not been fully investigated and explored thoroughly. The case was archived in 2015 but was then re-opened after my personal meeting with the Greek Ambassador in London who shook my hand and was very helpful and supportive. He then wrote a personal letter, on Embassy headed paper, to the Greek prosecutor giving his support to our case.
We found a Greek lawyer who worked tirelessly for us but in mid-2018 he felt that he had done all he could and relinquished the case which has since been archived again by the prosecutor in Heraklion. We have since spoken to a new lawyer who has advised us that he agrees that there are many unanswered questions and inaccuracies in the case but unless new information/evidence comes to light, there are no actual grounds at present to re-open the case. We are however fully aware that, according to Greek law, the case will remain filed until 2029 when it will be closed for ever
It has always been our family’s focus to get justice for our mum, however over the 10 years, I have committed my best efforts to also raise awareness of the plight of those who are going through a similar trauma and to try and make a difference for anyone who has this living hell thrust upon them. I have recently written to several people including the Greek President and Prime Minister as well as Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party however I have had no pro-active response from any of them to date
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Mum’s death and to commemorate this I have put together a memorial video which showcases the highs and lows we have experienced and it also reiterates my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has helped and supported us over the past 10 years. Please click on the link below to view this
10-year memorial video
Organizer
Michael Porter
Organizer
England
