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Family’s upset at more delays in Jean case

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By Fiona Reid
Dumfries and West
Family’s upset at more delays in Jean case

IT has been an emotional and devastating week for a Dumfries man who was finally hoping for progress in the long investigation into the death of his mother.

Michael Porter was expecting the Greek police to formally interrogate a suspect in the death of Jean Hanlon in Crete in 2009.

But he was distraught to find out it has been postponed to January 8.

In a video shared on social media, a visibly upset Michael, who now lives in London, said: “This week was a big week. The interrogation was set for Wednesday. Unfortunately we found out it’s been postponed until January 8 for reasons we’re not entirely sure. We were led to believe the suspect is not prepared or is unwell.

“It’s so frustrating and it’s incredibly heartbreaking. I feel this is a massive, massive kick in the teeth for us.

“What about our rights? What about our mum’s rights? It’s been 15.5 years campaigning for justice. It’s so tough.”

He added: “We have been through so much over 15 years and overcome hurdles four times to get the case reopened and they can just postpone it again. It’s so infuriating.”

Mum-of-three Jean, 53, disappeared in March 2009 and her body was found four days later in Heraklion harbour.

The Greek authorities initially concluded she had drowned but a second post mortem found she had injuries consistent with a struggle, including a broken neck and ribs.

Michael believes his beloved mum, who was living on Crete at the time, was murdered and the family hired a private investigator to look into the case. His findings led the police to name a man they wanted to interrogate.