British boy in death plunge from Greek hotel

To get to the heart of the story, we must go to the Greek island of Crete where the death plunge tragedy took place around the middle of last month. John Hogan of Bristol, clutching his two young children, six-year-old Liam and two-year-old Mia, threw himself from a fourth-floor hotel balcony after his wife threatened to leave him.

As he climbed over the balcony railing, he shouted: “I’ll take them with me before you do.” Liam was killed instantly in the fall but John and Mia survived with multiple injuries. The family was ten days into a two-week break in the popular Cretan resort of Lerapetra when the tragic incident occurred.

The children’s mother, Natasha Hogan, told Greek police that she and her husband had been arguing in their fourth-floor hotel room when John seized the children. Witnesses later described her as running through the hotel and out to the yard where the bodies lay. She was screaming: “Oh my God, somebody help me.” Police said Mia survived through a piece of good luck because she landed on top of her father whose body cushioned her fall. They were both described by hospital authorities as being in a serious but stable condition. Liam was pronounced dead on arrival at the general hospital in the island’s capital, Heraklion.

Local police chief, Michalis Vatsoakis, said shortly afterwards that Mr Hogan was being kept under armed guard in the hospital. He added: “We have charged him with the premeditated murder of his son. Once we have completed the investigation and taken testimony from all concerned, the file will be handed to the prosecutor for more formal action.

Neighbours at their Bristol Home have described the couple as model parents. One said: “I just can’t believe what’s happened. It’s a terrible shock. It sounds horrific. They are very loving parents and they idolised their children. They seemed very close and loving. It must be awful for Natasha.”

Natasha herself, who has now returned to Bristol with Mia, has paid an astonishing tribute to her husband whom she described as “a caring father.” In a remarkable defence of the man she was apparently planning to leave, she said his behaviour was completely out of character. She insisted that he was not drunk when he carried out his callous act that shocked Britons and Greeks alike.

She released a statement which did not contain a single word of criticism towards the man who has killed her son and torn her family apart. The statement said in part: “It has still not been possible to discuss in detail with John exactly what happened. Our thoughts are with him as he recovers. It’s unlikely that he will be in the UK for Liam’s funeral service.”

Two weeks after the incident, in fact the day after Liam’s funeral, John Hogan sobbed with self pity as he revealed what drove him to kill his son. He told a Greek court: “I am sorry, I am so sorry.” He said he had panicked and lost control after a row with his wife. He added that he feared she would take the two children away from him and this affected his mental functions. Barely able to walk into the courtroom because of injuries sustained in his fall, he told the judge how he grabbed the two people he most loved and jumped with the terrified youngsters from the hotel balcony. He said: “When I did it, I was mentally disorientated. I was not conscious of what I was doing because I was emotionally distressed.”

He added: “When my wife indicated to me that she had decided to leave me, I was overwhelmed by confusion. I was unable to bear the thought that I would live without my children. The desire to self-destruct, which exploded within me all of a sudden, overwhelmed my instinct of self-preservation and my sense of respect for other human lives. As a result, I lost my ability to distinguish between right and wrong.”

He looked shattered both physically and emotionally as he was helped into court by two police officers. He took almost five minutes to make the 40-yard journey from the police station to the court house. Once inside the two-storey building, he had to be carried up a flight of stairs on a chair.

Watched by his mother and sister, he faced preliminary charges of murder and attempted murder. Breaking down regularly, he told the court through his lawyer that until the tragic incident, his family had been enjoying a happy holiday together. At this point, he was asked by the judge to describe what happened on the day of the tragedy.

He said: “Everything was fine. My wife and the children went swimming together. We were all very very happy. My son and I went fishing and I caught a fish in a net. He was thrilled that I caught a fish. We all had lunch together. Then, we went to the pool and sat around there for a while in the afternoon.

“We later decided to get dressed for dinner. But before dinner, we started to argue. My wife said she wanted to leave me and take the children and live with her mother. She threatened to take three available seats on the next flight and go home with the children. The next thing I remember is waking up in the ambulance.”

It is now up to the judge and the prosecutors to decide whether to formally charge him with the offences. He will undergo a series of psychiatric assessments and a decision is expected in the coming weeks.

If the court accepts his claims of diminished responsibility, he is likely to serve a term of around three years in a secure psychiatric unit in Athens. If his claims are rejected and he is convicted of murder and attempted murder, he could be imprisoned for up to 25 years.