Date set for Rhodes death retrial

Mr Rochester's kidney was missing when his body was returned

Three Greek doctors who were cleared of killing a County Durham holidaymaker are to face a retrial.

Christopher Rochester fell from a Faliraki hotel balcony in 2000 and died after being left on a hospital trolley.

Doctors Stergios Pavlidis, Georgos Karavolias and Mihalis Sokorelos were convicted of manslaughter by neglect, but acquitted on appeal.

They will be retried on 5 February by Rhodes magistrates after Mr Rochester's family launched a private prosecution.

The 24-year-old died of internal bleeding at the island's Andreas Papandreou Hospital, after being left unattended for three hours.

Each doctor was sentenced to three years in jail, but all were cleared on appeal in 2005.

However, the Greek Supreme Court later ruled the appeal should be overturned and subsequently approved the private prosecution.

Further tests

Mr Rochester's mother and stepfather, Pam and George Cummings, have raised about £6,000 to pay for the trial, but still need to find another £3,000 to meet the full cost.

When the holidaymaker's body was returned to the UK, a post-mortem examination found one of his kidneys was missing.

An organ was later sent to the family, but tests failed to produce a DNA match.

Experts in France are due to carry out further tests on the kidney in the next few weeks, according to Mr Cummings.

If it is proved it was not Mr Rochester's kidney, charges could also be brought against the Greek pathologist responsible for its removal, he added.