Inquest reopens into schoolboy’s unsolved murder

An open verdict was recorded by the original inquest held after Mark’s death, but the High Court has overturned that ruling after a 42-year battle by his family.

In the days leading up to his disappearance on 1 September 1984, his father and mother, Winifred Billington, had no concerns about any mental health issues and going missing was “completely out of character”, the court heard.

The couple had adopted Mark as a baby. Since his disappearance, the family has never stopped fighting to get to the truth.

Giving evidence, Dr Brett Lockyer, a consultant forensic pathologist, told the court that the rope found at the scene was “tied unusually” in an “elaborate arrangement” and it was unlikely that Mark would have been able to secure the knot himself.

Mark had a “weakness on the left side of his body”, Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court heard, and struggled to maintain a grip.

The pathologist said that his feet would not have been able to touch the ground at the point of suspension.

Due to the condition of his body, Lockyer told the court that it was not possible to assess for blunt force trauma, strangulation, binding or sexual assault.

He recorded a medical cause of death as unascertained due to decomposition.

Jenny Birch, head of homicide at West Midlands Police, talked the coroner’s court through the teenager’s last known moments.

At around 07:45, Mark had done his usual morning paper round before returning home. A number of witness statements from 1984 and the re-investigation 17 years later were used to map his journey that morning.