The Government has performed a last-minute U-turn on its controversial plan to make householders pay for the collection of recycled waste.

John Hogan, the father accused of killing his son when he plunged 50ft from a hotel balcony, today denied murder, telling a court in Crete: "I do not accept the charge that I planned to kill my children."

A British father accused of murdering his six-year-old son as he jumped off a fourth-floor hotel balcony will stand trial at a Greek court today.