Surprise at hotel leaper verdict

By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Hania, Crete

John Hogan had been bracing himself for a custodial sentence.

John Hogan being escorted away from the courthouse in Hania

During his tearful hour-long testimony to the court in Hania, Crete, Mr Hogan said in a defiant voice: "Whatever you do to me in this court, no-one can do anything worse to me than I have done to myself."

But when the verdict came not long afterwards, it was more magnanimous than anyone had expected.

Instead of asking for a reduced verdict of manslaughter on the grounds of temporary insanity, the public prosecutor, in effect, directed the bench to acquit John Hogan on the charges of murdering his son Liam, aged six, and attempting to murder his two-year-old daughter Mia.

Unanimous decision

During her summing up, she said: "I deem him dangerous to himself and the public and recommend, therefore, that he be committed to a state hospital."

The four jurors and three judges retired briefly and decided unanimously that he was innocent of the charges.

John Hogan stood up and kissed his defence lawyer on both cheeks.

But there were gasps from the back of the court, where his former wife Natasha collapsed in tears. Her mother, Liam's grandmother, stood with her mouth wide open, unable to comprehend the absence of a punitive sentence.

On the steps of the court, Mrs Hogan sobbed constantly as Detective Constable Russ Jones, a family liaison officer, read a statement on her behalf.

She refused to speak or to answer questions, but is expected to give her story in a Sunday tabloid newspaper.

Natasha Hogan wept as the verdict was announced

The statement read: "This result, albeit somewhat unexpected, has left me feeling that Liam lost his young life for nothing. I accept that an act in a moment of complete madness was uncharacteristic of John but to have done this to our children is unforgiveable."

The innocent verdicts mean that Mr Hogan does not have to return to Korydallos prison in Athens and its psychiatric unit, where he has been held for nearly a year and a half.

He will spend the night in a prison in Crete, before being sent to a public institution in Athens.

Professor Iannis Nestoros, the consultant psychiatrist who treated Mr Hogan in Korydallos, and described him as "deranged", said he would probably have to be assessed in a secure ward in Athens.

But it looks highly feasible that Mr Hogan, 35, could be returned to Britain within a year.

'Loved family'

His mother Josephine, who moved to Athens to support her son, will then have easier access to him.

During his testimony, Mr Hogan said: "I love my mum, I love my sisters, I love my brother. But I have never loved three people more than I loved my ex-wife and my two children.

"They were the world to me," he said, before collapsing sobbing.

The Greek court may have appeared to have acted compassionately, but it has, in effect, said to Britain: "John Hogan is your problem."

It has also presented a huge problem to Natasha Hogan, who has apparently blocked any contact between her daughter Mia and the man the little girl says "threw her in the mud".

John Hogan said: "My ex-wife has every right to hate me. I took her boy away from her.

"I jumped over a wall. I had my children in my arms, but I don't remember."

That failure to remember was described by a psychiatrist as typical psychotic behaviour.