A GRIEVING mum whose son was at the centre of a Southampton murder inquiry claims she was “blackmailed” by the BBC Crimewatch programme, an inquest heard.

Devastated Kim Smith, mum of “gentle giant” Shawn Williams, said TV bosses told her that they would not run a TV appeal to catch her son’s killers unless she appeared on the programme.

Mrs Smith made the allegation after it was revealed that her son’s murder investigation has been “shelved” by police.

The family has now written a letter of complaint to BBC director general Mark Thompson.

Mrs Smith claimed she was told by broadcasters that they would not air a nationwide appeal at all in September last year if she did not agree to appear on the TV programme, which is fronted by Kirsty Young, Rav Wilding and Matthew Amroliwala.

A statement written by Mrs Smith and read aloud at the inquest said: “We felt blackmailed to appear on the programme because the BBC would not consider showing the appeal if we did not. We found it very disturbing.”

Southampton Coroner’s Court heard the exact circumstances of how Mr Williams came to suffer horrific head injuries when he was set upon by a gang as he walked through the Northam estate.

How he was found dead in a stream will forever be a mystery.

No crime scene could be found, no witness to the attack was tracked down, detectives could not find out why he took the unusual route home from hospital and no one has ever been brought to justice, despite the major police investigation Operation Savannah.

DS Simon Casey, officer in the case, said: “We feel we have got to a point where we do feel we have reached the end of the road.”

When asked if the case was closed, he said: “I would never say it is closed, it is shelved.”

The court heard that nine people were arrested in connection with the death of 42- year-old Mr Williams but were all released without charge after no evidence was found.

He added that after seizing evidence from the nine suspects, police “were able to clear up a lot of crime from the Northam estate but didn’t find anything belonging to Shawn.”

Basil Purdue, who carried out the post-mortem examination on Mr Williams’ body, revealed that no cause of death had been determined.

He even revealed that the injuries sustained in the attack could not be found in the post-mortem examination due to the decomposed state of the body.

After a review of the injuries he said that they were not “life-threatening” and there was “no medical evidence to link” the attack with his death.

Shawn was attacked in Princes Court on July 3 last year at about 8.30am as he walked from his Woolston home.

The 6ft 5in man was hit on the back of the head and fell to the ground, hitting his forehead and nose on the concrete.

His rucksack was stolen, but was later found nearby.

He managed to stagger to a busy road where a passer-by helped him and he was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

Mr Williams discharged himself from the hospital hours later without telling a medic.

His body was found a short distance away in woodland off Springford Road, Coxford, by a dog-walker on July 20.

The inquest was told that enquiries proved he must have died or collapsed not long after leaving hospital.

Mrs Smith told the hearing of her praise for the officers who had worked tirelessly to bring her son’s attackers to justice.

Recording an open verdict, coroner Keith Wiseman said that he was unable to consider unlawful killing because “the evidence simply does not stand up” but said it did not mean that the inquest could not be reopened in the future if fresh evidence came to light.

He said: “The matter is thrown into confusion by the inability to link the assault with the death.

“We may all feel that surely there must be such a connection and there may be, but there is no specific evidence that links the assault with the death.”

He added: “I simply do not know what happened to Shawn on that day, despite all the efforts by police to ascertain something concrete.”

When the Daily Echo approached the BBC for a comment, they initially told us they were looking into the matter.

But instead of coming back to us they contacted an officer involved in the investigation, who in turn contacted Mrs Kim Smith, the mother of Shawn Williams.

A call was subsequently made to the Daily Echo by Hampshire police, informing us that they believed Mrs Smith had not intended to use the word ‘blackmail’ during the hearing – despite it being written in a statement.

The officer said: “I have had a long conversation with Kim Smith. She did feel under pressure to appear on television at the time, but that did not amount to blackmail.”

The BBC later hit back at the "blackmail" claim insisting that although Mrs Smith’s participation was discussed it was the show’s recommendation that she should not take part in the appeal.

A spokeswoman said: “In this instance the production team felt it would not be in the best interests of Mrs Smith to appear on camera.”

She added: “At no point was it relayed that the appeal would not go on air if there was no family member present.”

The BBC said it understood from the police that Mrs Smith was “happy” with the appeal that was broadcast in September.

No Stone Unturned

LAST night Hampshire police told the Daily Echo they had left “no stone unturned” in trying to find those responsible for attacking Shawn Williams.

Detective chief inspector Dave Powell, right, who led the investigation, said although the enquiry had come to an end there was nothing to stop it being reopened if further information came to light.

He said: “We have reached a point where we have no more evidential lines of enquiry we can follow up.

“This has been a long and detailed investigation in which between 400 and 500 items of clothing were seized and examined, three postmortem examinations were carried out, house to house enquiries involved 700 homes and we spoke to more than 1,000 people.”