Will father face British justice?

By Professor Jon Silverman
University of Bedfordshire

Several legal options are open to Liam Hogan's mother

The mother of Liam Hogan has called for her ex-husband to be tried in a British court for pushing their son to his death over a hotel balcony in Crete. He has already been acquitted of murder by a court in Greece.

It is the job of a coroner's court to establish how someone died, not to apportion blame.

Thus it is no surprise that the Avon coroner, Paul Forrest, has recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on six-year-old Liam Hogan.

The evidence pointed unequivocally to him having been pushed off a hotel balcony in Crete and that was the cause of death.

Prosecution speculation

Solicitor Rosamund Rhodes Kemp said: "What other verdict could the coroner record? In these circumstances, it could not have been death by misadventure. So, the verdict itself doesn't really take matters forward."

Nevertheless, a file has gone to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from Avon and Somerset police and there will, inevitably, be speculation about a possible prosecution of John Hogan in the UK.

Under the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861, a British national may stand trial in the UK for a crime committed abroad.

Indeed, in 2005, a Suffolk police officer was convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey for a killing which took place in Guyana in 1982.

Liam Hogan died and his sister was badly injured in the fall

But the crucial difference is that he had not stood trial for the crime before.

"In the present case," said Diana Ellis QC, a leading defence barrister and part-time judge, "the fact that Mr Hogan has already been subjected to a legitimate trial in Greece makes it almost inconceivable that he would be re-tried in the UK."

The abolition of the double jeopardy rule, brought in after the Stephen Lawrence murder, allows second trials in certain limited circumstances but would almost certainly not apply in this case.

Ms Ellis said: "I understand that evidence from three witnesses was heard at the inquest but not at the trial.

"However, it seems to have been available all along and the fact that the Greek court chose not to hear it under their procedures is a matter for them."

Public interest

Had the death occurred in a jurisdiction where the standard of due process is considered by the UK to be unacceptable, it is just possible to imagine a different outcome.

Rosamund Rhodes Kemp said: "If the CPS decided that there were gross procedural irregularities in the trial, it might decide that justice was served by a fresh prosecution. But frankly, we are talking here of another EU state and that is most unlikely."

The CPS will have to take into account both the public interest and the likelihood of securing a conviction.

Given the psychiatric assessment of Mr Hogan provided to the Greek court, CPS lawyers might well conclude that the outcome of any fresh trial would be no different.

So, what other options are available?

There are conflicting accounts of John Hogan's fall from the balcony

It is open to any citizen to bring a private prosecution but the CPS has the right to step in and formally abandon it if it believes the cause is legally hopeless.

If Liam's mother decided to go down that route, history suggests it will be unsuccessful.

She could launch a civil action to establish liability and there is a precedent for such an action then leading to a criminal prosecution.

But that was a lengthy and traumatic process for the parties and she might not wish to take that course.

It is a co-incidence that the coroner's verdict on Liam Hogan came on the same day that the government has published its revised draft bill reforming coroner's courts.

Following an extensive consultation exercise, a coroner's duty to investigate deaths abroad will be strengthened.

But that may be of little consolation to the family of Liam Hogan.