The night will feature Ahmed Dickinson Cardenas on guitar & Emma Blanco on violin.

Graffiti Classics –
16 strings, 8 dancing feet and 4 voices

PLUS AN AUCTION OF MARK’S ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS

Tickets are £22, £19 (conc.) and can be bought from the box office online or by calling them on 020 7388 8822.

Click here to view/download the event flyer!

A note from Sheila Blanco – Mark’s Mother

Ahmed Dickinson Cardenas, virtuoso Cuban guitarist will perform alone and with Emma in a programme of music from Cuba to Spain to Argentina. For a truly energetic fun-filled second half Graffiti Classics, fresh from this year’s Edinburgh Festival, will guarantee to leave you with a smile on your face! Not gypsy, not jazz, not trad, not classical but scintillatingly slap-stick with brilliant arrangements and mischievous humour.

Yes, Michael Wolkind QC will make a guest appearance.

There will also be an auction of more of Mark’s antiquarian and other books and a couple of surprises along the way I am sure, if last year’s event is anything to go by!

PLEASE come and support us on September 15th and contribute to the ongoing fight for justice. The funds raised from last year’s event enabled us to have some vital biomechanical analysis done on the CCTV footage from the night of Mark’s death. We are now making significant progress, exercising endless patience as ever, towards finding out the truth and ensuring that those responsible for his death do not simply get away with it.

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Doherty was arrested in connection with the inquiry on Friday. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “A 31-year-old man was arrested on March 19 on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs. He was bailed to return on a date in April pending further inquiries.”

The arrests were made after the police viewed footage filmed by the heiress at the flat. Peter Wolfe (41) and the apartment’s owner Gill Samworth (53) were also held on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Gil Samworth, a renown ’superfan’ of Doherty, is suspected of allowing her premises to be used for the supply of controlled drugs. Alan Wass (28) was also taken in on suspicion of supplying drugs.

Shouting, swearing and running up and down were heard in the stairwell of 18 Romford Street seconds before the thud of Mark hitting the ground outside. Having ‘fallen’ from a height of just 3.5m., Mark died from multiple skull fractures 24 hours later. Mark received no injuries to his arms or legs. These harsh truths are with me 24 hours a day.

A unique life brutally cut short.

Help me, his mother, in any way you can, to secure Justice for Mark

Sheila Blanco March 3rd 2010

I would like to take this opportunity to offer you my wholehearted support – in your campaign for justice for your son, Mark.

I cannot even begin to comprehend your pain. Losing a child is a truly terrible experience – one I can hardly bear to imagine.

My circumstances are quite different – but the similarities in our stories quite shocking.

My partner, Paul Cunniffe, was 40 years old when he died, on August 11th, 2001 – falling from the roof of Fieldgate Mansions in Whitechapel, where your son also died.

Paul was a musician, singer-songwriter, of Irish ancestry – beautiful, talented, widely admired and full of energy.

Things hadn’t ever been easy for Paul, and he was in a difficult place in his life, for a number of quite complex, personal reasons.

To this day I, and the rest of Paul’s family, have little, if any, idea about what happened, or who was involved.

Paul had been associating with a group of people in these flats. The only person I ever came into contact with was a known drug dealer, also called Paul. I don’t know his surname. A scruffy looking, weasel of a man. Shifty, jumpy, and not terribly engaging.

I couldn’t see the attraction of hanging around with these people but, having recently given birth to our second child at the end of June that year, my priorities lay elsewhere.

Paul had gone across to see someone who he said owed him money, and that he’d be back later that afternoon. As I dropped him off at the tube station the last thing he said, to the reflection in my rear view mirror, was ‘I love you.’ Corny, but true. I never saw him alive again after that.

I got a phone call from a police officer who was calling from Bethnal Green police station, ‘in connection with Paul Cunniffe, trying to trace his relatives.’ I laughed and said, ‘that’s what they say on TV when someone has died.’ Silence from him – followed by hysteria from me, as the reality dawned that Paul was indeed dead.

From that moment we were set upon a rollercoaster ride of bewilderment, regrets, grief, pain and confusion – that has never quite ended. The impact on our family has been devastating.

At the inquest, the Coroner in Poplar, who was a very sympathetic and kind man, was quite clear with the family, about the purpose of the inquest hearing. To establish the cause of death – that was all. Due to his injuries, Paul had clearly died from a fall. He had been attended by the HEMS air ambulance service, by road, from just around the corner in Whitechapel, but had died in the Royal London Hospital, having suffered a massive sub-lateral bleed, and multiple injuries. Having been given so many transfusions, toxicology reports were inconclusive.

The Coroner was clear that it would be down to the family to raise the issue with the police, if we felt that they should pursue the investigation. It was not something the Coroner’s Court was empowered to do, apparently. The police stated that they had called round to the address in Fieldgate Mansions three or four times but had failed to get an answer. They concluded that there was no case to answer.

We were devastated. We had considered all sorts of possibilities – that there had been a fight, that other people had been involved, that drink or drugs had been a factor.

To get no answer on any of these things was utterly shocking – and in our minds a total travesty. My opinion on that has never changed. Having a six week old baby in my arms, and a four and a half year old child at home, devastated by the loss of his father, left us in no doubt that we were in no position to pursue this.

It is my belief that Paul was attempting to get away from a situation, or from someone, when he fell. I don’t know what or who. I don’t know what this ‘Paul’ person had to do with any of it, but I know he was there. I spoke to him once, briefly, and he confirmed that much. In not coming forward, and not speaking to the police how we would ever know what else happened?

I can’t believe that the police are not compelled to fully investigate any suspicious death. What sort of society do we live in, where that is acceptable?

The fact that Mark Blanco died in similar circumstances at the same location is uncanny. The fact that this death was also not investigated is outrageous.

How many people who come into contact with this group of toxic, low-life scumbags need to die before waves are finally made? I believe that is something which needs to be answered.

The fact that the film maker, Robyn Whitehead, also appears to have died, in association with the same group of individuals, cannot be ignored.

Fight on, Sheila, fight on! I totally admire your strength and fortitude, and your resolve to pursue this campaign! May you continue to find the courage, support and resources to do so.

May we all – one day soon – find an answer, find justice, and find peace.

Technorati Tags: paul cunniffe

According to Joanna Hardy, Paul Cunniffe’s girlfriend, “The police went round three or four times but nobody answered. I asked them: is that it? They said there was no case to pursue as far as they were concerned.”

Following his death, an album of his songs entitled Excuse My Accent was released to critical acclaim. Paul Cunniffe left behind his partner Jo and three children, Paula, Shane and Mollie Rae.

The circumstances surrounding the fall were considered ’suspicious’ but have never been discovered. Paul Roundhill is said to have no memory of the incident.

Doherty’s spokesman denied reports that the Babyshambles singer, who was fined £750 for heroin possession in an unconnected court appearance on Wednesday, had been with Miss Whitehead at the flat on Saturday, hours before her death.

However, a concierge at the block in Homerton, east London, said: “Doherty was here on Saturday. He came with a friend and went round to the flat. Then he was back on Monday night.”

Sadly, Mr Wolfe seems to have rather a casual attitude towards the well-being of Miss Whitehead. He failed to realise anything was wrong with Robyn all day, leaving her to sleep. When he finally discovered she had died, he called 999 for an ambulance and then returned to bed. He was woken when paramedics arrived at the flat, where 27-year-old Miss Whitehead was pronounced dead.

This same lack of regard for human life was shown by Doherty in the death of Mark Blanco. Doherty and his girlfriend Kate Russell-Pavier ran away from Mark as he lay dying on the pavement, presumably to avoid the police who had been called to the scene.

Mark’s case is being re-examined at the moment after new evidence indicated participants lied at the official inquest. It is now revealed that Mark was ejected from the party not once, but twice – seconds before CCTV footage shows him falling to his death from the balcony.

As well as being at the flat where Robyn died, there are reports that Doherty left drugs at the premises. A friend was quoted as saying:

Peter had been at the flat on Saturday night and left a lot of drugs behind rather than take them with him, because he’s such an easy target for the police to search.

Last night Sheila Blanco, Mark’s mother said,

Robyn’s and Mark’s cases have a common denominator – Doherty. If the Met had probed Mark’s death properly, this may not have happened. It’s the Pied Piper quality he has, and people are very vulnerable to it. Bad things seem to happen to people in Doherty’s circle.

Police are investigating the incident and awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine how Miss Whitehead died. Some reports indicate they wish to question Doherty. Hopefully the authorities take some action before another death is connected to this group.

From everyone at JusticeForMark.com, our thoughts go out to Robyn’s family.

Source: Telegraph

Jonny “Headlock” Jeannevol had already confessed to Naomi Stirk, Mark Blanco’s girlfriend, that he killed Mark but this was dismissed by police. Headlock had walked into Bethnal Green police station and made the same confession but after being locked up, he retracted his statement and was allowed to leave by the police. The police simply sent him to have a mental health assessment.

Originally Jeannevol said he, Doherty and the singer’s literary agent Paul Roundhill first pushed 6ft 4ins Blanco out of the flat onto the stairwell balcony after his bust-up with the singer. Roundhill admitted punching him. All three told the inquest they never saw him alive again after that and believed he must have jumped off the balcony.

The story has changed now and it appears that testimony to the inquest was false. In the News of the World taped interview, Jeannevol said: “It calmed down for a moment after he was gone – but the next thing I knew Mark was back in the flat. I pushed him out of the door to the balcony and shut the door. The next thing we knew he was lying in a heap.”

Mark Blanco’s mum Sheila said: “This is the first time any one of them has said Mark came back into the flat a second time. We know it was not suicide. There was 52 seconds from the time Mark re-entered the building to the time he fell. Something must have happened in there.”

Blanco family lawyer Michael Wolkind QC said: “At last we have an admission that Mark came back into the flat and again they threw him out. They are inching closer to the balcony and we are inching closer to the truth.”

As with the last CCTV forensic evidence showing Mark was pushed from the balcony the Metropolitan police have said “The new evidence will be investigated fully.” Lets hope so.

At this particularly difficult time of year I thank all of you who have supported me in so many ways along the road to secure Justice for Mark. From the anecdotes you have told me, I realise that Mark was a lynch-pin in so many people’s lives, in so many different ways.

At home, on Christmas morning, Mark would make the stuffing, he would be Father Christmas, distribute presents interspersed with a card trick or two, read for a while, then ‘dress’ for lunch. Dipping in and out of his latest literary masterpiece, Mark would entertain and shock in equal measure. Nothing can bring him back in person; in death he will receive the justice he deserves.

Happy Christmas and New Year to Everyone.

Watch full video

Dr Corrina Cory, expert in Injury Biomechanics continued experiments from the findings of her preliminary feasiblity study into how Mark fell. You can see these results on the video linked above. She worked on the two scenarios concluded by the HSCC investigation in November 2008:

Scenario 1 : CRIMINAL ACT - Mark Blanco fell as a result of a criminal act of another or others.

Scenario 2 : MISADVENTURE – Mark Blanco jumped deliberately but did not intend to harm himself to any degree.

Dr. Cory worked with sophisticated scanning, 3-D modelling, the original CCTV and human modelling simulations. Her findings were passed to Professor Wassersug, world expert in Neurobiology and Anatomy. His report concludes:

“Given the nature of his (Mark’s) injuries, the two most likely explanations are that he was backed into the railing and pushed over, or that he was not conscious, and was dropped over the railing.”

As stated in Dr. Cory’s notes, the body models were overlaid for the frames of the CCTV that were the clearest. The position of Mark by the lamp post was not stated to be his final resting place. Mark’s feet ended up nearest the lamp post, as stated by several witnesses.

“We have now moved this case from suicide or accident to unlawful killing,” Michael Wolkind QC. Legal representative of Sheila Blanco, Mark’s mother.

The Met. have not yet responded to these reports.

I had hoped that this second police investigation would be more thorough than the first; I was wrong. For eaxmple, none of those 6 individuals at the gathering on 2nd December 2006 have ever been interviewed under caution, i.e. as suspects, only as witnesses.

The investigations I had commissioned:

Dr Corrina Cory, expert in Injury Biomechanics continued experiments from the findings of her preliminary feasiblity study into how Mark fell. She worked on the two scenarios concluded by the HSCC investigation in November 2008:

Scenario 1: CRIMINAL ACT – Mark Blanco fell as a result of a criminal act of another or others.
Scenario 2: MISADVENTURE – Mark Blanco jumped deliberately but did not intend to harm himself to any degree.

Dr Cory worked with sophisticated scanning, 3-D modelling, the original CCTV and human modelling simulations. Her findings were passed to Professor Wassersug, world expert in Neurobiology and Anatomy. His detailed report concludes:

“Given the nature of his (Mark’s) injuries, the two most likely explanations are that he was backed into the railing and pushed over, or that he was not conscious, and was dropped over the railing.”

“We have now moved this case from suicide or accident to unlawful killing,” Michael Wolkind QC.

The Met. have not yet responded to these reports.

Now is the moment to talk about the case as much as you can. A person just two or three steps away from you may be able to help to secure Justice for Mark in terms of influence or funds. I leave you with Emma’s words passionately delivered to the packed conference room,

“It’s not just a fight for justice for Mark, it’s a fight for justice for any human being. The police force in this country have let us down for three years.”