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Hotel death father will be freed | Hotel death father will be freed |
(40 minutes later) | |
A father who killed his six-year-old son by jumping with him from a hotel balcony in Crete is to be released from a psychiatric unit. | A father who killed his six-year-old son by jumping with him from a hotel balcony in Crete is to be released from a psychiatric unit. |
John Hogan, 34, of Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, was cleared of murdering Liam Hogan and in May the High Court quashed an inquest verdict of unlawful killing. | |
Liam's sister Mia received broken bones in the fall in August 2006. | |
A court in Athens ruled John Hogan is fit enough to fly to Britain and can leave as early as next week. | A court in Athens ruled John Hogan is fit enough to fly to Britain and can leave as early as next week. |
Mr Hogan's solicitor Kerstin Scheel told BBC News: "In theory he could return as soon as today." | |
Liam's family reacted angrily to the prospect of Hogan's return to the UK. | |
He will be free to travel the world, if he chooses, in search of the daughter he tried to kill Brian Chandler | He will be free to travel the world, if he chooses, in search of the daughter he tried to kill Brian Chandler |
Brian Chandler, the stepfather of Liam's mother Natasha Visser, said: "The prospect of John Hogan returning after just 16 months of a recommended minimum - by a very lenient Greek Court - of three years detention in a psychiatric unit is simply horrendous. | |
"He will, if current press is correct, return, having pushed two children off a fourth floor balcony, as a completely free man. | "He will, if current press is correct, return, having pushed two children off a fourth floor balcony, as a completely free man. |
"As he has no conviction of any kind against him, he will therefore be free to travel the world, if he chooses, in search of Mia, the daughter he tried to kill." | "As he has no conviction of any kind against him, he will therefore be free to travel the world, if he chooses, in search of Mia, the daughter he tried to kill." |
After the original trial Mrs Visser, who has remarried and now lives in Australia, said she had "lost her son for nothing." | |
Liam Hogan died and his sister was badly injured in the fall | |
The judge at his trial in January 2008 said John Hogan's responsibility was diminished. | |
His psychiatrist said his actions were caused by an "earthquake" of psychosis. | |
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed a request for the release of John Hogan had been agreed by the Greek court and that the court order was then agreed by the prosecution. | |
Hogan has been trying for a year to get back to Britain but two previous appeals to magistrates in Athens were rejected. | Hogan has been trying for a year to get back to Britain but two previous appeals to magistrates in Athens were rejected. |
However, the court ruled he had made sufficient psychiatric progress over the past six months and would be allowed to return home. |