Myths

In this compelling series, Mark dispels ten of the most prevalently reported myths about his case. You can also check out our FAQ page for more information on a wide range of issues.

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10 things the Daily Mail got wrong about the trial of Mark Alexander

Reading Time: 5 minutes This article could just as easily have been called ’Ten ways the Daily Mail were misled by the crown prosecution service’, because in many ways the press isn’t to blame for the inaccuracies and calculated falsehoods recited in the prosecution’s opening speech – which they perhaps naturally, albeit uncritically, relied...

Mistake #1 – Post-mortem Confusion

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Gifted son gets life for butchering pushy father”. “He is accused of attempting to dismember him with a saw”. “He… tried to cut it up with an electric saw”. “A blade from a saw was found with the corpse… An electric saw was found in the house” – Excerpts from...

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Mistake #2 – Cause of Death

Reading Time: 2 minutes Mark “battered his father to death”. Police discovered Samuel’s “dismembered body and battered skull”. Samuel died “having suffered blows to the head”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al We simply don’t know how my father died. The Home Office Pathologist was “unable to formally ascribe a cause of...

Mistake #3 – Strange Smells

Reading Time: 3 minutes “Weeks after the disappearance… neighbours noticed there was a smell of ‘rotting sheep’ from the property”. SP “could not help but notice the strange smell that appeared to be emanating from Samuel’s home”. “At much the same time, a foul smell was noticed in the cul-de-sac”. – Excerpts from the...

Mistake #4 – Date of Death

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Forensic studies of the body indicated that Samuel had probably been murdered in early September”. “Traces found in the garage suggested that the body had been stored there for 2 months before being buried”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al The Home Office Pathologist was unable to determine...

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Mistake #5 – Exhibits

Reading Time: < 1 minute “The nozzle from a petrol can, heavy-duty black gloves, and a roll of black plastic sheeting” were found in the house. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al What sensible household doesn’t have assorted sundries like these? Of course, we are supposed to insinuate some sinister purpose behind this...

Mistake #6 – Girlfriends

Reading Time: 2 minutes “Girlfriends were not permitted. Samuel Alexander would have seen them as a distraction”. Samuel “saw no room for girlfriends”. “Girlfriends were not welcome”. Samuel “disapproved of Mark having a girlfriend”. Samuel “barred him from having girlfriends”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al These rather glib remarks were –...

Mistake #7 – Father-Son Relations

Reading Time: 3 minutes Mark “resented his father’s meddling, according to his girlfriend” Mark “had had enough of being bossed around”. Mark was “driven by the knowledge that only with his father out of the way could he live the life he wanted to lead”. Samuel “made him live with him at his home...

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Mistake #8 – Studying in Paris

Reading Time: 4 minutes Samuel “insisted his son attend the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris Mark was “determined to finally have his way, weeks before he was due to start studying in the French capital”. Samuel “refused to allow him to live on campus, and instead searched for a ‘host family’, unaware that Mark...

Mistake #9 – Accommodation

Reading Time: < 1 minute “Mark maintained that Sami was living with him in London”. “Mark said he was living in a close Egyptian community in London with friends”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al The semantics are important here because one could be forgiven for thinking that “living with him in London”...

Mistake #10 – Sami’s Health

Reading Time: 2 minutes Samuel was “barely mobile”, “increasingly frail”, and “walked with a stoop”. – Excerpts from the Daily Mail et al This is plainly not true. As the Honourable Judge Reddihough remarked in sentencing: “There is clear evidence before the court that by the time of this offence Sami had made a...