Cue Russian outrage about their second-class treatment by Americans. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has threatened a ‘freeze on American adoptions’ in response. This case being the ‘last straw’ after several other recent adoptions resulted in deaths of the Russian children.

In 2006, Peggy Sue Hilt of Manassas, Virginia, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of fatally beating a 2-year-old girl adopted from Siberia months earlier.

In 2008, Kimberly Emelyantsev of Tooele, Utah, was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to killing a Russian infant in her care.

And in March of this year, prosecutors in Pennsylvania met with a Russian diplomats to discuss how to handle the case of a couple accused of killing their 7-year-old adopted Russian son at their home near the town of Dillsburg.

A 21-month-old baby adopted from Russia three months ago died in the U.S. state of Virginia on Tuesday after being left by his foster father for several hours in the back of a car, in searing heat.

These cases are terrible but lets step back and get a little perspective. Russian officials say 1′600 children are adopted from Russia every year into the U.S. You have to assume the majority of these are successful, with children finding new loving homes.

However the adoption process in Russia obviously needs to be tightened up. American parents come to Russia because the U.S. process is so long and difficult. There are good reasons for that..

Reports say the mother of this child only spent 4 days in Russia, obviously not enough time to understand the child and the culture.

Perhaps money changed hands here to expedite the process? Corruption is common in Russia and I’m not familiar with the adoption laws. Malawi requires that potential adopters live in the country for 18-24 months prior to adoption approval. That maybe excessive but even a natural birth puts parents out of action for 4-6 months.

Time in Russia would help break down the stereotypes on both sides. Russians tend to believe the US is the land of milk and honey. Americans often think life in Russia is poverty and despair. Neither position is true.

One thing has surprised me though. The media not linking this incident to the story of the Dutch diplomat who tried to return his adopted 7yr old Korean daughter. The similarities are striking.

We all have a natural revulsion to parents who shirk the greatest of responsibilities, parenthood. Children, adopted or not, aren’t accessories. They are a lifetime commitment and can’t be returned if they prove to be challenging or fail to fit in with your lifestyle.

We want to believe parental love is unbreakable and unconditional. For most parents, American or Russian, that’s true. John Beyrle, the US ambassador to Moscow, said he was “deeply shocked by the news” and “very angry that any family would act so callously toward a child that they had legally adopted”. Hopefully the U.S. authorities will do something to reprimand the ‘mother’ in this case. That would go a long way towards calming the situation in Russia.

Update April 10th 00:30: The Russian government has suspended the license of the agency involved in this adoption and frozen U.S. adoptions until a ‘treaty is in place’.

Russians were furious that Miles Harrison was acquitted after letting his adopted Russian child, Dmitry (right) “roast alive” in the back of his SUV for 9hrs while he was at work.

“How can we prosecute a person who abused the rights of a Russian child abroad? If there was an adoption treaty in place, we would have legal means to protect Russian children abroad,” said Pavel Astakhov, the children rights commissioner.

However any agreed treaty would be limited. America has always maintained a non-extradition policy for their citizens, so we’re unlikely to see this ‘return to sender’ mother pulled before a Russian court anytime soon.

I’d recommend following the NobodyisForgotten Blog for updates on this story.

He had gone round to visit the flat of Peter Roundhill. The Sun Newspaper reports that Roundhill is "Doherty's best friend and soulmate, a modern-day Fagin who is known to locals as a small-time drug dealer and user". Again, according to the Sun report, the flat has a reputation as a crack-den.

[Paul Roundhill's] flat, on the second floor of a mansion block, is an absolute tip. The internal walls have been torn down, the toilet is a disgusting shade of brown and the bath has not been used for washing for years. If the cooker has ever been used it has only been to boil up drugs.

Mark had gone there that night to try and persuade Pete Doherty to attend his upcoming play, "Accidental Death of an Anarchist", presumably to get more publicity for the production.

There were six other people in the flat - Roundhill, Doherty, Pete's minder Johnny Headlock, Roundhill's posh friend of similar age Annabel Heald, a girl called Kate - not Moss - plus another woman.

It doesn't seem to have gone very well. This is London newspaper report suggests the party-goers took an instant dislike to Mark:

According to friends, Doherty, his minder, known as Johnny Headlock, and Mr Roundhill started bullying Mr Blanco.

One friend said: "They wouldn't let him sit down and gave the only spare seat to the dog. Then they burnt his cap. Someone at the party, who was supposed to be a mate, punched him three times in the face before he was thrown out of the party".

I can believe this part of the story. Both Pete Doherty and Paul Roundhill come from middle class backgrounds, as did Mark. Mark had been to Cambridge university, was intellectual and talked 'posh'. When you are trying to fit into the drug culture, you try to hide these traits. Meeting someone like this becomes acutely embarrassing as they show you up for the fraud you are.

Peter Roundhill says that he kicked Mark out of the party and never left the flat but other reports say that Mark left the party with Roundhill, Pete Doherty, and Jonny Headlock. The Sun reports that a neighbour,

heard a massive struggle. Paul Roundhill was shouting and there was lots of swearing. There was a scream and the guy landed on the floor. Two girls went down to the street to try to revive him.

Mark was on life support for two days and then died, his £800 Tag Heuer watch and gold cufflinks are still reported missing.

There are a lot of parts in this story that don't add up from my point of view. Mark not a violent person in any sense, and would use his intellect to try and win. He would never start a fight and reports of him 'physically intimidating' Peter Doherty make no sense to me. Pete Doherty has been in and out of jail several times for drug and burglary convictions, it's hard to imagine a slim-build Cambridge intellectual worried him to that degree.

Mark was also not a person to be 'star-struck' - which made the following comment by Paul Roundhill seem so odd.

Roundhill said: "He was over-excited. He would not calm down. He had spoken to Pete and invited him to the play and he was excited that he had talked to someone so famous as Pete about that."

Maybe he was projecting his own feelings about Pete Doherty onto Mark there? Graduating from Cambridge or Oxford University, often means you mix with many famous and influential people along the way. You soon learn to take all this in your stride. Mark was clever enough to understand celebrity, and knew that by bringing Doherty to his new play he could increase the media interest. He wasn't turning up at that flat as a star-struck fan.

Paul Roundhill then goes on to suggest that Mark committed suicide, "I think he did not fall accidentally. In some ways it seems he was doing a creative act or making a creative statement in his mind, having been ejected, by jumping."

I have trouble believing that, as do many of his friends. People with severe vertigo don't tend to climb over balconies or commit suicide by jumping. Besides, Pete Doherty refusing to attend your play is hardly a reason to end it all.

A lot of this story doesn't add up. I sincerely hope that the police get to the bottom of this. They don't seem to be treating this very seriously at the moment, with one 'phone call interview' to Pete Doherty so far.

To cap everything off Pete Doherty seems to have stepped over Mark as he was dying and moved on to another party with Paul Roundhill, Jonny Headlock and other party-goers. He wrecked a hotel room that night and ran off (again) when the police were called.

Doherty also disrupted a wedding party, set off the fire alarm and started a fist fight in the bar before fleeing when police were called.

A hotel spokesman said: "He’s ripped out every wall light fitting, torn down the curtains, smashed every mirror, broken all the lamps, upturned all the furniture and wrecked the telephone and Internet connection sockets."

I'd like to join Mark's family in calling for a full police investigation to uncover the truth behind the death.

R.I.P. Mark

Update: There is now a dedicated website for the campaign with all news articles, case details and updates. JusticeForMark.com

News Articles

Sick and inhumane Pete Doherty left my son to die

Flat owner is Pete's svengali
The damaged world of Doherty's circle
Party victim ‘did not jump’
Did he fall – or was he pushed? Questions surround Doherty and the party death
Party fall actor had clash with Doherty

Doherty Branded ‘Sick’ by Blanco’s Family
Doherty hides away in amid rumours of split Highlands with Kate
Doherty bouncer tells of last moments before actor’s death

Pete Doherty, The Big K, and what really happened at the Hotel in the Sky

Other Blogs

Accidental death of Mark Blanco – Andy Mayer

When a mutual friend got knocked down by a car, he was the guy who went to see her every night until she got better. He was a heck of showman and he deserves better than being a remembered as a walk-on part somebody else's pop career.

Mark's MySpace Page – Set up by Mark's family and friends