This is the moment Pete Doherty walked away from a London flat after a Cambridge graduate was allegedly thrown from a first-floor balcony during a drug-fuelled party.
Aspiring actor Mark Blanco, 30, fell from the property in Whitechapel, east London, where the Libertines rock star had attended the party in December 2006.
CCTV footage showed Doherty – with girlfriend Kate Russell-Pavier, 19, and his ‘minder’ Jonathan Jeannevol, known locally as ‘Johnny Headlock’ – walking past the body and then running away from the scene.
It comes after Doherty was photographed with his daughter Billie-May and wife Katia De Vidas at a pub in London’s Belgravia a fortnight ago on September 13.
During the Channel 4 documentary ‘Pete Doherty, Who Killed My Son?’ which aired last night, the dramatic video was viewed by Mr. Blanco’s mother, Shiela Blanco.
She said: ‘This is a crucial piece of evidence. I choose not to watch it too often because this is the last time Mark lived. It shows Mark being projected over the railing and then straight down to the bricks and sidewalk below.
CCTV footage of Pete Doherty running from the east London house where Mark Blanco died
Mark Blanco is pictured with his mother Sheila on his graduation day at Cambridge in June 1997
Pete Doherty was spotted at the Duke of Wellington pub in London’s Belgravia on September 13
Party guest Naomi Stirk recalled that there was a “sinister” atmosphere that evening
‘A few minutes later we see Pete Doherty coming down and stepping over Mark without stopping. And then he appears to pick something up off the ground and run away, followed by Headlock. It is absolutely a callous, reprehensible lack of humanity.”
Mrs Blanco, who lives in Guildford, Surrey, also accused the Metropolitan Police of bungling the investigation into her son’s death.
She told the programme: ‘He was absolutely pushed over, knocked over. But the Metropolitan Police won’t reveal what the truth is. It is not a mother’s job to investigate her son’s death. The Met had dismissed the CCTV footage as irrelevant, but there is much more to be seen in this CCTV footage, but with a trained eye.’
The Met has urged an investigation into all available evidence following Mr Blanco’s death, but added it would assess any new evidence.
Also during the documentary, party guest Naomi Stirk recalled that there had been a ‘sinister’ atmosphere that evening. She recalled seeing Mr Headlock and a drug addict called Paul Roundhill, who lived in the flat, physically escort Mr Blanco out of the flat. property.
She also told how Mr. Blanco had become excited after a dress rehearsal for his upcoming play, Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Mrs Stirk claimed he had arrived at the flat with posters for the production and wanted Doherty to come and see them.
Mrs Stirk said: ‘Peter ended up almost pinned against the fireplace and Mark stood inches away from Peter waving the poster of the play.
“Peter gestured with his eyes to Jonny and Paul in a way that they would understand if they said help me here. So they physically escorted Mark out of the apartment.
‘The atmosphere was sinister. From where I sat you could see through to the hallway and the kitchen. I had a good view of the door so it’s very easy to know who was there and who wasn’t. And there is one point for which I cannot explain the whereabouts of Jonny and Paul.”
Mr Blanco’s mother, Shiela, remains convinced her son was pushed off the balcony
Doherty was Kate Moss’s on-and-off boyfriend at the time. They can be seen at Glastonbury in 2007
Aspiring actor Mark Blanco is pictured in the hospital after the tragic events unfold
She said to another person in the flat, Annabel Healdsmith, and then decided she would leave.
Mrs Stirk added: ‘A few minutes later the phone rang and it was Annabel. She said Mark is in very bad shape. I think we should call an ambulance.
“I remember holding his hand and trying to make sure he was comfortable because he was dying. And of course you feel terribly helpless because you can’t do anything.’
Also during the program, a respected FBI instructor claimed that Mr. Blanco had been “murdered” and that he must have been thrown from the first-floor balcony.
Grand Fredericks revealed how he used groundbreaking 3D technology to recreate Mr Blanco’s final moments at the party.
The documentary explained how Mr. Blanco briefly left the party the first time before returning. He was later found unconscious under the first floor balcony on the street.
Mr Fredericks said he believed the footage suggested another person had been on the balcony before Mr Blanco died.
After examining original footage of the fall, he then used a 3D and reverse projection, overlaying the new film over the original footage as a way to ‘step back in time’.
He said: ‘The reverse projection clearly shows that there cannot be just one person on the balcony.
‘What I would see is that Mark has come out and someone has taken Mark and put him over the balcony. If the measurements and distance are correct, Mark was thrown over the balcony and Mark was murdered.’
FBI Instructor Grand Fredericks said there must have been several people on the balcony
Mark Blanco’s mother Shelia Blanco tries to get to the bottom of her son’s death
The expert further claimed that he had asked the Met to carry out reverse projections more than a decade ago, but they had been unable to do so.
Meanwhile, John Kennedy, a forensic video analyst who worked on the James Bulger case, also said the footage suggested Blanco had been pushed to his death.
“He didn’t seem to be in control of his fall,” he said during the documentary. “I had the impression that he was unconscious when he came off the balcony.”
One of the six guests at the party has also claimed for the first time that she too has reason to believe Mark was murdered.
Nearly seventeen years after her son’s death, Mrs. Blanco remains convinced that her son was pushed off the balcony.
She has called on the Met to reopen the investigation and re-interview those present that evening.
“I’ve always believed that everyone who was in that apartment that night knows what happened,” she said.
‘All I want is to find out who is involved in Mark’s death and how he died. There is no vendetta against anyone.”
The mother has spent years compiling evidence files and speaking to experts.
“It was my last promise to him,” she said. ‘I said I would find out what happened at all costs. I have to do this so that what happened to Mark doesn’t happen to other people. Every death like his deserves a fair trial.
The Whitechapel flat in question was owned by a drug addict called Paul Roundhill (pictured)
Doherty’s ‘minder’ Jonathan Jeannevol, known locally as ‘Johnny Headlock’, was also in the flat
Libertines rock star Pete Doherty, pictured on stage in Paris in 2017
‘The police really need to be held accountable. Not just for my son, but for anyone who has an unexplained death.”
The documentary ended with Ms Blanco standing outside London’s Royal Albert Hall, holding a sign reading ‘Pete Doherty, Who Killed my Son?’
At the end of the documentary, a short statement from Doherty was released, saying: ‘I am sorry for the loss of Mrs Blanco and I welcome any help people can give her to come to terms with what has happened.’
Doherty, 44, who was the on-and-off boyfriend of Kate Moss at the time, now lives in France with his singer Katia de Vides and their daughter.
Mr Roundhill, who organized the party, said: “Mark was my good friend. I wouldn’t protect anyone who played a role in his death. My condolences and support go out to Shelia Blanco. Mark and his family deserve justice.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Our sympathies remain with the family of Mark Blanco. After his death, police launched an investigation into all available evidence.
‘Following the initial investigation, the death has been subject to various reviews by the Met; Where areas for re-investigation were highlighted, these have been pursued by homicide detectives and we have carried out expert analysis of the CCTV footage.
‘The investigation into the death remains ongoing and any new evidence or information will be assessed by detectives.’
“Pete Doherty, who killed my son?” aired last night on Channel 4 and is available to stream here