Hogan inquest ruling quashed

A fresh inquest has been ordered into the death of a six-year-old Bristol boy pushed off a hotel balcony by his father when a holiday trip to Crete to salvage his marriage went disastrously wrong.

Two High Court judges quashed the verdict and ordered that the case must go back "for further consideration" before a different coroner.

They ruled the matter would have to go back to a different coroner so that the issue could be properly considered.

Avon coroner Paul Forrest had found that former tiler "unlawfully killed" his son Liam.

But 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".

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 him to be detained in a psychiatric unit. The jury decided he had been suffering from “an earthquake of insanity”.

His older 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.

Before the balcony plunge, an argument had started between Hogan and his wife and the then Mrs Hogan said she intended to leave her husband and take the children with her.

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

Mr Hogan’s former wife, Natasha Visser, has since married again and now lives in Australia. Her counsel, Gareth Patterson, argued a verdict of unlawful killing should be left open to any future inquest as there could be further investigation and witnesses called to give evidence that Mr Hogan was not suffering from insanity.

James Badenoch QC, appearing for Ms O’Connor and Mr Hogan, said it would be unsafe to rely on such evidence. It was unlikely to be “of sufficient quality” to undermine expert evidence from the two Greek psychiatrists who had found Mr Hogan was suffering from psychosis and not responsible for his actions.

Later 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.

Ms Scheel said: “Mr Hogan and his family were legally advised that the coroner had applied the wrong legal test in reaching his verdict at the inquest into the death of Liam and believed that an error in a matter of such enormous importance should be corrected.

“The judges have ruled that the verdict should be quashed and referred back to the acting coroner for a new verdict to be considered.

“Mr Hogan and his family continue to mourn the loss of Liam, a much loved and greatly missed little boy.

“They respectfully request to be allowed to mourn the loss of Liam, continue healing and try to rebuild their lives in private.”