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The suspicious death of an expat in Crete is to feature on the Greek version of Crimewatch in an attempt to help officers in a new cold case probe.

Jean Hanlon's body was recovered from the sea at Heraklion harbour four days after she sent a friend a text message which said “help me”.

When they closed their investigation 11 years ago, police said the 53-year-old had accidentally drowned, despite a coroner’s report confirming that she suffered shattered ribs, a punctured lung and facial wounds.

But a Channel 5 documentary last June – Murdered in Paradise: The Killing of Jean Hanlon – triggered a fresh probe.

And now her three sons, Michael, Robert and David Porter, are hoping that footage from the programme can be used on Greek crime-fighting show Light in the Tunnel and encourage witnesses to come forward with new information.

Michael, 35, of Dumfries, said: “Light in the Tunnel has a reputation in Greece for solving cold murder cases so it’s really important that my mum’s case is being covered.

“It‘s considered Greece’s Crimewatch. Going over the details and circumstances of my mum’s death on TV will raise awareness all over Greece and make the public, politicians and police sit up and take notice.

(Image: Unknown)

“It has been more than 10 years since mum died and we hope by getting her story out to the Greek public again will help us find out exactly what happened to her.”

Light in the Tunnel claim to have found more than 1610 missing people and solved 25 murders with the help of investigative journalist Aggeliki Nikolouli and her experienced team.

Filming has already begun and Michael said that he hopes the show will help locate the man that his mum was last seen with.

Michael – who lives in London and works for a construction firm – added: “The documentary will show the clear discrepancies within the case.

It will show the public why mum’s death is suspicious. She was with a Greek man that night in the marina who has still not been found or has never come forward.

“If it was just an accident or if she was fine when he left her, why hasn’t he come forward and said so? We want to establish who that man was.

“I don’t know if mum was murdered or if her death was an accident but we know someone put her body in the water.

“This programme could just be seen by the one person who would be the missing piece of the puzzle and we need to reach them.”

The Sunday Mail last year revealed that Jean’s best friend, Peter Verschueren, feared being made a suspect for the second time.

Peter claimed his life was turned upside down during the original investigation following the discovery of Jean’s body.

(Image: Unknown)

The Belgian landscaper, who still lives on the Greek island, was the last person to speak with Jean before she vanished.

He said: “It is important that her family find out the truth.”

Nikolouli, from Light in the Tunnel, added: “We will present the facts of the case again to look for witnesses who have so far failed to come forward, either out of fear or for any other reason.

“Jean’s children are seeking the truth and we are on their side to help as much as we can.”

Crimewatch featured real crimes from across the UK and was shown on BBC1 for 33 years. Its final episode was in March 2017.