Mum’s fury at Channel 5 Jodi Jones documentary makers after son Mark Kane’s ‘name blackened’.Norma was horrified to find her late son Mark Kane had been discussed and pictured in Channel 5’s Murder in a Small Town earlier this year.
The heartbroken mum of a man who was wrongly named as a suspect in the brutal murder of schoolgirl Jodi Jones has hit out at documentary makers.
Norma was horrified to find her late son Mark Kane had been discussed and pictured in Channel 5’s Murder in a Small Town earlier this year.
The two-part show attempted to cast doubt on the conviction of killer Luke Mitchell despite him being found guilty by a jury of murdering Jodi, his 14-year-old girlfriend, in 2003.
Two private investigators drew up a list of other people they considered could be in the frame – including Mark, who died suddenly in May 2018, aged 38.
Despite contacting Channel 5 four times to ask for an explanation, Norma claims she has failed to receive any acknowledgement or apology.
The TV station also declined to speak to the Record.
The 71-year-old, who has cancer, said: “I just want justice for my son. The way they spoke about him in that documentary was as if he had actually murdered Jodi.
“I had the police at my house at the time and they told me that they had run Mark’s fingerprints and his DNA so they knew he didn’t do it.
“The policewoman told me not to worry because they knew it wasn’t Mark and that they had the right person in custody.
“But because of claims being made by a supposed friend of Mark’s, they had to investigate.”
A court was previously told how “pal” Scott Forbes claimed to have evidence that could clear Mitchell but that he wanted to sell his story for £50,000.
He implicated Mark, a former drug addict, who was allegedly in the vicinity when Jodi was murdered in woodland near her home in Dalkeith, Midlothian.
He told Kane to cooperate with his story and he would split the fee with him – but mum Norma told how her son outright refused to take the blame for something he hadn’t done.
She said: “Scott told Mark he would give him £25,000 if he went along with his story.
“When I asked Mark what he had said, he told me that he had politely told him where to go because he wouldn’t admit to something he hadn’t done.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the way Mark was being portrayed in that documentary.
“They have totally blackened his name and he’s not even here to defend himself.
"OK, he was a drug addict years ago but he was turning his life around. He got off the drugs completely and was accepted into college.
“He then went on to study at Stirling University. But in the documentary, they made out that he was up in a field taking drugs and the rest of it.
“No child is perfect but my son doesn’t deserve what they’ve done to him.”
Norma, who lives in Edinburgh, told how her only child would have celebrated his birthday earlier this month, which compounded her anguish over the TV series.
She said: “Mark passed away three years ago on the 16th of last month. He would have just turned 40. I think that’s why it’s all coming to a head for me.
“His cause of death is still unknown. They just found him lying in his chair. The autopsy couldn’t find how he had died – he just went to sleep and never woke up.
“I feel like I’ve not got any closure. Channel 5 even got that wrong on the documentary – they said he died last year.
acknowledge that they had got my emails and it was
maybe getting looked into or something like that.
“But they’ve just totally ignored me. I know how I’m feeling after that documentary but it must be a hundred times worse for Jodi’s family.”
Police say nobody else is wanted in connection with Jodi’s death.
We previously told how Jodi’s family slammed Mitchell supporters for using a picture of her in their “shameful” campaign for his release.
Stickers bearing the words “the truth must be known” alongside an image of Mitchell’s teen victim have been plastered across Midlothian in recent days.
Channel 5 declined to comment.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/mums-fury-jodi-jones-documentary-24327016?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
