Man who killed son is 'innocent'

By Chris Mason
BBC News, Hania, Crete

John Hogan jumped off a hotel balcony and killed one of his children when he came to Crete on holiday.

John Hogan now faces time in a psychiatric unit

Pupils in Year Two at Wheatfield Primary School in Bradley Stoke lost a classmate. Mr Hogan's now ex-wife lost a son.

But John Hogan walked out of court a legally innocent man.

As the verdict in his murder trial was read out, the contrasting emotions were stark.

While he leapt up, at the back of the courtroom Natasha Hogan, Mr Hogan's ex-wife, remained seated, her head in her hands. She was expressionless - staring at the floor.

It's almost a year and a half now since Natasha and John Hogan came to this Greek island for a make-or-break holiday.

Their marriage was in trouble and they hoped two weeks in the resort town of Ierapetra might help.

It didn't.

Mr Hogan got increasingly agitated that his wife was fed up with him and was going to leave him - and take the children with her.

"I don't know what I thought, I was in a state of panic, a state of distress. I thought I was going to lose everything," he told the court, in his captivating and compelling testimony.

I feel no guilt because I did not do it John Hogan

He does remember much of what happened on Tuesday 15 August, 2006.

He took his six-year-old son Liam fishing and played with his daughter Mia, who was two.

He also remembers sitting on the fourth floor hotel balcony with his two children asleep in his arms.

But he doesn't remember anything else.

"I cannot remember it, I've tried to, but I can't," he told the court.

"I feel no guilt because I did not do it," he said. "This person sat before you is not the person who jumped from the fourth floor. I have my son's forgiveness and I have God's forgiveness."

At this point Natasha Hogan, sitting in the front row of the court's public gallery, got up and left.

Mental state

John Hogan's statement though, coupled with evidence from his psychiatrist, was enough to convince the court that he was "incapable" of murdering his son because of his mental state.

He was there physically when he went over the balcony with his children, but not mentally, according to the specialist who appeared in court to defend him.

And so he left with little more than a legal slap on the wrist.

Natasha Hogan must now rebuild her life

So what does the future hold for him?

In the short term - and probably the medium term too - he will be in a psychiatric unit, either here in Greece or the UK.

But this judgement could mean that one day he will be released, if he convinces specialists that he has made a sufficient recovery.

That is quite clearly his aim.

"One day I'm going to be free again and I will be a father to my daughter again," he said, as he concluded his evidence to the court.

What happens to the rest of the family is less clear cut.