REINTRODUCING: Blood On The Tracks (reprise)

Back in 2018, our first season Blood on the Tracks investigated the suspicious death of 17-year-old Mark Haines, whose body was found on the railway line outside Tamworth in January 1988. Since Allan Clarke first reported this story, there's been a fresh inquest, with new witnesses and explosive allegations. Dive back into Blood on the Tracks. We're republishing the original series plus a brand new episode, where we delve into the latest from the new inquest.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is an ABC Podcast.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  This is a story that started decades ago. And now, we might be closer to the truth than ever.

• 0:16Speaker 02

  They said there's been an accident. Mark's been found on railway tracks.

• 0:22Speaker 01

  Just outside Tamworth, a 17-year-old Aboriginal boy is dead.

• 0:29Speaker 02

  I just saw Mark. It just broke me. I, uh, I cried.

• 0:37Speaker 03

  Not Mark. Why Mark? Not Mark. He was gone.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Is it suicide? Misadventure? Or something more sinister?

• 0:52Speaker 02

  Well, what we didn't see was any blood.

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  Head and ears, there was a towel, it was a white towel.

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  And we picked up a comb and a pink cigarette lighter.

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  And that's what I said, no, I'm sorry, you could not drive a car. No way.

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  The jigsaw puzzles didn't fit.

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  A million questions. Why? How? Who? What?

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  A country police investigation, overshadowed by the politics of race.

• 1:19Speaker 06

  You know how it is, young Aboriginal men, they just walk away, lie down on railway tracks and wait to get by a freight train. That's actually their answer.

• 1:26Speaker 02

  That was their story, you know what I mean? But it wasn't our story.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  A family on a 30-year fight for justice.

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  So, I'd just done what any, uh, family would do for their loved ones. Question what was that?

• 1:45Speaker 01

  I'm Alan Clark, and eight years ago, I created the Walkley Award-winning podcast, Blood on the Tracks, the first-ever series from Unravel. It's about the suspicious death of Aboriginal teenager Mark Haines in Tamworth back in 1988.

• 2:01Speaker 01

  After this podcast was first released, the coroner agreed to launch a fresh inquest. It's currently underway and there's been some big revelations. We're closer than ever to finally getting some answers and getting an end to this story. So now we're going to update this series and re-release it. We're retelling the whole story right from the start.

• 2:25Speaker 02

  It was foul play and it was a cover-up, right from the word go. I said, "Well, where was you? Where was you when my nephew was found dead?" I'll fight every one of you fools, one at a time, all at once, I don't care. We don't call ourselves vigilantes. We're here in search of the truth, and still are. He hasn't given up.

• 2:49Speaker 02

  Thirty years later.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  I just wish, I just wish he'd find, he'd get his answers.

• 2:58Speaker 01

  I just want him to have peace. I want Mark to have peace.

• 3:08Speaker 01

  So I'll just ask you one last time, did you have anything to do with Mark's death? To find out what happens, listen to my updated podcast. Blood on the Tracks is the latest season of the ABC's true crime podcast, Unravel. Search for Unravel now on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 3:38Speaker 00

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