Pair were 'pushed' over balcony

Liam Hogan, from Bristol, died after falling from the Petra Mare Hotel, in Crete, with his father, John, and sister, Mia, then aged two, in 2006.

John Hogan, 33, from Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, was cleared of murder.

Sarah Davidson said she heard an horrific row and saw a man push them off. But her husband Iain said the man had tried to stop the pair falling.

Liam died from head injuries and Mia broke several bones in the fall.

Mrs Davidson told the inquest in Bristol that she heard a "horrific" argument from a room above her as she was leaving the hotel.

"I looked up straight away. That's when I saw two children stood on the balcony on the edge."

"I couldn't comprehend why he pushed them or didn't try and reach out for them"
Sarah Davidson, witness

She said she could not hear what the argument was about but she saw a man come forward and push the children off the balcony.

"I couldn't comprehend why he pushed them or didn't try and reach out for them. I just couldn't believe it," she said.

Mrs Davidson's husband, Iain, then described how he heard the argument.

He said: "We looked up to where the noise was coming from. We could see on a balcony above us.

"There were two little kids on a small wall. Almost in the same instance as an adult appeared, the children went over.

"There was lots of commotion on the floor at this point."

Contrary to what his wife had just told the inquest, Mr Davidson said the man appeared to try to stop the children falling.

He went on: "There was screaming as the children fell. The adult appeared to try and grab them and the momentum appeared to take his body over the side."

John Hogan has been receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital near Athens since the court cleared him of murder.

The inquest continues.

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