Scottish mum’s murder case revived as gay son’s fight reopens investigation 16 years later
"We are going to get her justice," said son Michael Porter
By Aaron Sugg
A man has been charged with the 2009 murder of Scottish woman Jean Hanlon, after her gay son pushed to reopen the long-dormant investigation.
Hanlon died aged 53 in Crete, where she was living and working at the resort village of Kato Gouves when she went missing in March 2009.
Her body was discovered four days later in the sea near Heraklion, where Greek authorities ruled her death an accidental drowning.
“There are a lot of mixed emotion” – Michael Porter on the charges pushed on the man for his mother’s murder
Her son, Michael Porter, pushed for the case to be re-examined 16 years later, and last year hired a private investigator who produced a 24-page report, leading Greek authorities to reopen the investigation.
A 54-year-old local man, known to Ms Hanlon before her death, has now been formally charged and will stand trial.
Porter told BBC Scotland News it had been a “massive fight” to give his mother her day in court, which he has finally achieved nearly two decades later.
“We are finally going to get our mum’s day in court” – Porter celebrating the court date
He said: “There are a lot of mixed emotions. Over the last 16 years we’ve had so many highs and then been kicked down to the floor again. But this is amazing – we are finally going to get our mum’s day in court, and we are going to get her justice.”
Although a senior prosecutor advised that charges be dropped, the Council of Judges of the First Instance Court of Heraklion overturned that recommendation, leading to the successful charges.
The suspect was questioned in January this year. The trial is likely to take place within six to eight months, and Porter plans to travel to Crete for the proceedings.
“We didn’t allow them to sweep it under the carpet” – Porter on reopening the case into his mother’s murder
Porter credits the progress entirely to the persistence of his family. “When they originally said she’d died in a drowning accident – having seen our mum and the state she was in – we knew that wasn’t possible,” he said.
He added that if he and his family had not pushed to reopen the investigation, the man would not have been charged. “We didn’t allow them to sweep it under the carpet,” he said.