Thomas Cook should 'hang its head in shame' over deaths of children in Corfu

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/13/thomas-cook-shame-over-deaths-children-in-corfu

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Thomas Cook should “hang its head in shame” over the deaths of two young children through carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday in Corfu, their parents’ lawyer said after an inquest jury concluded they died unlawfully.

The tour operator Thomas Cook breached its duty of care over the deaths of two young children through carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday in Corfu, an inquest jury concluded on Wednesday.

A two-week hearing was told that Bobby and Christi Shepherd, aged six and seven, died at the Louis Corcyra Beach hotel on the Greek island when they were overcome by fumes from a faulty boiler.

Speaking at the end of the inquest, the family’s lawyer, Leslie Thomas QC, said: “Thomas Cook should hang its head in shame as a result of these deaths. The families of Christi and Bobby have waited nearly nine years for an apology – they are still waiting.”

Sharon Wood, the mother of the two children, said after the inquest verdict: “I will always hold Thomas Cook responsible for their deaths.”

The jurors at Wakefield coroner’s court had already been told by West Yorkshire coroner David Hinchliff that it had been agreed the only conclusion they could come to was unlawful killing.

Bobby and Christi, from Horbury, near Wakefield, were on a half-term break with their father, Neil Shepherd, and his partner, now wife, Ruth Beatson, when the tragedy happened in October 2006.

The coroner said he will make a series of recommendations to the travel industry at a later date.

Bobby and Christi were found dead in a bungalow in the grounds of the hotel by a chambermaid. Shepherd and Beatson were found in comas but later recovered. The jury was told how Christi and Bobby had felt ill the day before they were found dead and, at bedtime, the adults were also not feeling well.

Shepherd and Beatson went into the children’s bedroom to help them but do not remember anything else until they woke in hospital.

The jury has heard that Bobby and Christi were poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty hot-water boiler housed in an outbuilding attached to the side of the bungalow.

There were a series of faults in the rusting boiler, including a failure to fit a flue, a water leak that meant the boiler was overheating, a crucial safety device that had been short-circuited, and holes left in the walls between the outbuilding and the bedroom when air-conditioning pipes had been installed.

The coroner called this final error a “bodged and botched” job.

In an emotional statement outside the court, Wood paid tribute to her “beautiful angels”.

She said: “For everyone whose lives Christi and Bobby touched, I am hugely relieved that our fight for justice is over. We asked for lessons to be learned from our children’s deaths; it will now fall to the coroner’s recommendations to force Thomas Cook to act more responsibly in future.

“Thomas Cook said they offered our family practical and financial support. This is simply not true. Whilst we appreciate there were criminal convictions in Corfu, it is clear that Thomas Cook could and should have identified that lethal boiler.”

The father of the two children, Neil Shepherd, accused Thomas Cook of failing his family and refusing to answer questions about the tragedy for nearly a decade.

“Thomas Cook failed our family. That boiler room should have been checked. Ruth and I nearly died in that bungalow.

“The bottom line is, had Thomas Cook followed its own policy, Christi and Bobby would be alive today.”

Several former Thomas Cook employees went into the witness box and exercised their legal right not to answer questions.

This included the chief executive of the holiday company at the time of the tragedy, Manny Fontenla-Novoa. Asked whether the firm put “profit before safety”, Fontenla-Novoa refused to answer.

But the current chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, said: “I feel so thoroughly, from the deepest of my heart, sorry, but there’s no need to apologise because there was no wrongdoing by Thomas Cook.”

Fankhauser said the right checks were not carried out because the hotel lied to Thomas Cook, saying there were no gas-fuelled water heaters at the complex. He said the company’s representatives undertook safety checks based on this misinformation.

Another former Thomas Cook employee who exercised her right not to answer questions that could be self-incriminating was a holiday rep, Nicola Jordison, who was called Nicola Gibson at the time of the tragedy.

Jordison and a customer affairs executive, Richard Carson, were both put on trial by the Greek authorities, charged with manslaughter by negligence in relation to the children and causing bodily injury by negligence to Shepherd and Beatson. Both were cleared by three judges in 2010.

A number of Greek people were also charged with offences relating to the children’s deaths and four were convicted, the jury has been told.

The jury has also been told that the Crown Prosecution Service examined a police file on the tragedy and decided not to prosecute any individuals who worked for Thomas Cook nor the company itself.

A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said: “Everyone at Thomas Cook was shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Robert and Christianne Shepherd in 2006. Thomas Cook recognises that the pain caused by this terrible accident will never go away and must be still very hard for friends and family to bear.

“The systems which were in place in 2006, which were intended to prevent such a tragedy, have since been thoroughly revised and address the criticisms made by the jury.

“Thomas Cook works with dedicated specialist external health and safety experts to audit holiday properties. The health and safety of our customers is of paramount importance and we continuously review and strive to improve all our procedures.”