Jean Hanlon’s three sons feel closer than ever to the answers they’ve been searching for over the past sixteen years. The British woman was murdered in Crete in March 2009. Initially, her death was ruled as drowning, but a later forensic investigation overturned that conclusion, determining that she had been murdered.

The suspect accused of the crime is a man from Heraklion with whom Jean had a brief relationship—a relationship she had detailed in her diary, which her three sons later found. The man, who has been formally charged with homicide, recently testified in court and denies the accusation.

It was early March 2009 when Jean’s family was informed that her body had been found floating off the coast of Heraklion. At first, her death was attributed to drowning. However, a second forensic examination changed everything, concluding that she had suffered injuries from a fall before ending up in the sea. This crucial finding transformed the case into a homicide—one that became a nearly unsolvable puzzle for authorities.

Jean Hanlon’s Son

What didn’t fade over the years—on the contrary, it grew stronger—was the determination of Jean Hanlon’s three sons to track down their mother’s killer. Through relentless effort, continuous investigation, and persistent legal requests by their attorney, Apostolos Xyritakis, they managed to reopen the case, despite it being shelved three times without progress. Everything changed about a year ago when, at the family’s request, private investigator Harry Veramon joined the case.

Through his investigation, Veramon gathered evidence pointing to a specific individual—the man with whom Jean Hanlon had a brief ten-day relationship, which she ended around the time of her death. The emerging indications of his involvement were so strong that prosecutors eventually filed homicide charges against him. A crucial piece of evidence was Jean’s diary, where she described the relationship, mentioning that in the days leading up to her death, she was experiencing tensions—mainly due to the man’s insistence on rekindling their relationship.

Now, both Jean’s sons and the private investigator are convinced the case is on the verge of being solved. Speaking to Thema, Jean’s youngest son, Michael Porter, stated that the man accused of the crime was a local with whom his mother had a brief romance. She ended the relationship on her own terms—something the man apparently could not accept, persistently pressuring her to get back together.

“Mom wrote frequently, over a short period, about her relationship and meetings with this man. She expressed concerns that something didn’t feel right, and she didn’t like how he made her feel. She never outright said she feared for her life, but his repeated, uninvited appearances made it clear that his behavior unsettled and worried her. She wrote in detail that their relationship was short-lived, and she ended it because she didn’t feel he was right for her—she didn’t like how he treated her.”

Indeed, in an excerpt from her diary, published by Thema, her entry on March 7—two days before she was found dead—states that the main suspect had once again asked to meet, and she had refused.

Jean Hanlon with Her Three Sons in Happier Times

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

“I woke up around 8:30. Headed to Pano Gouves just after 11:00. Ran into Anna while I was out walking. Chatted with her for a bit. Walked the whole way—no transport today, but it was a beautiful day, so I didn’t mind. Sat at my computer for ages… (…) (Suspect’s name) called and wanted to come over tonight, but I said no. Drove back with Christina and Pavlos. Went to… then home. Spent the evening watching TV—short night.”

The Meeting and the Cry for Help

When asked what happened on the day his mother was murdered, Michael Porter said that, according to Veramon’s investigation, Jean had met with the suspect that day. The meeting, it seems, did not go well. At some point, she reached out to two friends, seemingly looking for an excuse to leave. In fact, she reportedly sent one of them a single-word message: “Help.”

“The night Mom was murdered, she was in contact with two friends while she was with him. It was clear the meeting wasn’t going well, and she wanted to leave. We don’t know the exact meaning behind the ‘help’ message, but we do know she wasn’t joking. One way or another, she didn’t feel comfortable, and she knew she needed to find a way out. It breaks my heart that she was calling for help and never got it. The killer acted with the mindset of ‘If I can’t have you, then no one will.’”

The Last Phone Call

Speaking to Thema, Veramon also addressed the alleged meeting between Jean and the main suspect on the day she was murdered—something the accused man vehemently denies. However, Veramon emphasized that Jean’s presence with the suspect was confirmed by a friend who recognized his voice over the phone.

Jean Hanlon’s Diary

As Veramon explained: “During the critical hours, Jean was with the suspect. She was in contact with two close friends, persistently trying—albeit indirectly—to arrange to meet them. She was looking for a reason to leave. At some point, things went south. The meeting took a turn. Jean was trying, in a cautious way because he was right there with her, to find an excuse to leave. She called one of her friends and said she was with someone and couldn’t communicate well, asking the friend to speak with him instead. She then handed over the phone, and the witness says that the voice he heard belonged to the suspect.”

That day, they met in the late afternoon to evening at a central café in the Heraklion port. That was the meeting of death. The last signal from her phone was traced in Gouves the next morning—meaning someone turned the phone off and then back on, half an hour away from where her body was found. And the location of the meeting itself holds significance. That’s because, during their relationship, the accused avoided public outings with her—something that had bothered the woman, as she suspected he might have been hiding something. She had even shared this concern with a friend. On that day, for the first time, he took her out in public (not in the village where he lived) to convince her to get back together. He did it to break down her defenses,” he added.

“He Was Always in the Frame of Suspects”

Regarding the suspect’s profile and the evidence that finally brought him before the authorities after all these years, Mr. Veramon pointed out that the victim had written in her diary about the problems that arose after their relationship ended.

Excerpts from Jean Hanlon’s Diary

“The woman clearly states that she wants to break up. The reasons aren’t explicitly mentioned in the diary, but there seems to be a serious disagreement over something. After that, this man keeps insisting on reconciling, while she does not. There are descriptions along the lines of ‘he showed up at my house uninvited, asked me to go out, I didn’t want to.’ It seems he was begging her. He was always a suspect, but there wasn’t enough evidence for prosecution. Of course, the accused denies everything. However, even two days before her murder, he was still insisting they go out for dinner, and she refused. We believe the core of this crime is the rejection he felt. According to witness statements, on the day of the crime, around noon, the suspect was seen outside a café watching her. He himself has also admitted that he would show up at Hanlon’s house uninvited.”

“I Wasn’t with Her the Night She Disappeared”

From his side, the man accused of Jean Hanlon’s murder categorically denies any involvement in the case.

As he stated in his testimony—obtained by “THEMA”—on the night Jean Hanlon disappeared, he was not with her but at home. He added that he only learned about her death a week and a half later.

“We broke up on good terms. I stopped going to her house, and she didn’t try to approach me either. The last time I saw her was during Carnival in 2009. I had gone to her house and asked to have sex, but she refused. I don’t remember exactly how many days after that she disappeared. Maybe a week or two later. She didn’t explicitly say she wanted to break up—she just said she didn’t want to be intimate, and so our relationship ended. Neither of us tried to get back together. (…) I didn’t want to go out in public with her. She did, but she never expressed it as a complaint. (…) I was at the café… That’s where R.M. opened the newspaper and showed me the article about Jean’s death. That’s how I found out, a week and a half later. I hadn’t heard anything before that.”

When asked whether he met her at a café in Heraklion the day she disappeared, the accused claimed he was not with her.

“I had been to that café in Heraklion a long time before 2009. I never spoke with any of Jean’s friends. The night she disappeared, I was at home. I believe Jean committed suicide because she had family problems. My lawyer told me she was also drunk that night and may have stumbled and fallen. She never told me she wanted to kill herself, though. While we were together, I never stalked her. (…) I have placed Jean’s photo next to my parents’ pictures,” he said.

Finally, speaking about how they met and their relationship, he claimed they never had any problems, though he admitted that he sometimes went to her house uninvited.

“One day, I was at a café when Jean approached me and gave me her phone number. That was the first time I saw her. (…) Our relationship lasted a few days. We never went out together because she was older than me, and I was embarrassed. I was 39 at the time, and she was 53. During our relationship, we never had arguments or problems. When I left her house, I would tell her I would come back, and she would tell me to do so. She never gave me the impression that she didn’t want me to. Sometimes, I would go to her house without her knowing.”