Pete Doherty quizzed over party death

Singer Pete Doherty is facing further police investigation over his involvement in the death of a man who fell from a balcony at a London house party last year.

The Babyshambles frontman, 28, was attending the bash in Whitechapel, east London, when budding actor Mark Blanco plunged to his death from the second-floor of the building in December 2006.

Doherty, who is believed to have had a row with Blanco earlier that night, reportedly left the scene soon after the fall, fleeing before he could be questioned by police.

But at an inquest into Blanco's death at the capital's Poplar Coroner's Court on Thursday, Dr Andrew Reid dismissed reports of suicide and recorded an open verdict.

He then called upon the authorities to reopen the case to find out once and for all whether the 30-year-old's fall was deliberate or by mistake.

Dr Reid told the court: "I am going to ask the Metropolitan Police Service to review and reopen the investigation."

The ruling comes after Doherty's minder, Jonathan 'Headlock' Jeannevol, retracted his statement to cops admitting he had pushed Blanco on the fateful night because he had been bothering the rocker. Withdrawing his apparent confession earlier this year, Jeannevol claimed he had "lost his mind" when he made the call to police.

During the inquest, the jury was shown CCTV footage of Doherty running past the blood-covered Blanco without stopping to help.

Doherty was not required to attend the court case.document.write(unescape("