Hotel plunge death: verdict quashed

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Two judges ordered that the case must go back "for further consideration" after Avon coroner Paul Forrest found that John Hogan "unlawfully killed" son Liam when a holiday to salvage his marriage went wrong.

Sir Anthony May and Mrs Justice Dobbs, sitting in London, ruled the verdict was flawed.

At a recent hearing, they indicated that a "really quite serious error of law" had occurred because the question of Mr Hogan's mental state "was simply not addressed".

Former tiler Hogan, 34, of Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, pushed Liam and his two-year-old sister Mia, before jumping himself following a row with his then wife Natasha.

Liam died but Mia survived the 50ft plunge from the fourth-floor balcony of the Petra Mare Hotel at Ierapetra, Crete, in August 2006.

A Greek court found Mr Hogan not guilty of murder but ordered his detention in a psychiatric unit. The jury decided he had been suffering from "an earthquake of insanity".

His sister, Christine O'Connor, from St George, Bristol, asked the court to overturn the unlawful killing verdict on the grounds that Mr Hogan was "not in control of his actions" because of his psychotic state. Mr Hogan's solicitor, Kerstin Scheel, said the case would now go back to a different coroner for a new verdict to be considered. She said Mr Hogan's family was continuing to mourn the loss of "much loved and greatly missed" Liam.

The Hogans went on holiday in a "make or break" attempt to patch up their failing marriage and the incident occurred shortly before they were due to return home.

The court heard the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated that there will be no prosecution of Mr Hogan in this country for murder.