No UK charges for balcony leap father
- 00:00:46
- ITN
No UK charges for balcony leap father
No action is to be taken in the UK against a man who threw his six-year-old son to his death from a hotel balcony in Crete, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. John Hogan, from Bristol, leapt 50ft from the Petra Mare Hotel in August 2006, clutching his son Liam, six, and daughter Mia, two. Liam died from severe head injuries. Hogan, who survived the fall, was tried by a Greek court and acquitted of Liam's murder in January this year after judges heard he had suffered an "earthquake" of psychosis. Following an inquest finding of unlawful killing held in Bristol in March, Avon and Somerset Police handed a file to the CPS to consider whether there was a basis for bringing a prosecution against Hogan should he return to England or Wales. But the CPS has ruled out prosecuting Hogan on home turf, on the grounds that no "new and compelling evidence" had surfaced since the Greek trial. Hogan, a former floor-tiler, now 34, leapt from the balcony with his children after he argued with his then wife, Natasha Visser, during their "make or break" family holiday in the resort of Lerapetra. Liam landed on his head and died within hours. Mia survived with relatively minor injuries. Following Liam's inquest, Mrs Visser urged the CPS to consider legal action against her ex-husband, who has been held at a secure psychiatric unit in Greece since his trial, as "justice has so far not been done".
ITN | September 29, 2008
