Boy who died after Crete balcony fall unlawfully killed
Liam Hogan died after being thrown from the hotel balcony
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Thursday, 27, Mar 2008 03:22
A six-year-old boy who died after his father pushed him off a hotel balcony in Greece was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.
Liam Hogan died as a result of severe head injuries sustained from the 50ft fall at the Petra Mare hotel in Crete.
His father John also threw himself and Liam’s two-year-old sister, Mia, over the balcony in 2006.
Mr Hogan, 33, was recently cleared of the murder at a trial in Crete earlier this year.
However earlier today Avon coroner, Paul Forrest, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing at the inquest into Liam's death in Bristol.
During the inquest, three witnesses, who were not called upon to give evidence during the Greek trial, gave their eyewitness accounts of the event.
One of the witnesses, Sarah Davidson, described hearing a row from the Hogans' hotel room and seeing a man "push" a young boy and his sister from the four-storey balcony.
John Hogan is currently being held at a psychiatric hospital in Athens where he is receiving treatment, after the Greek court found him not guilty of killing his son due to his mental state at that time.