Court challenge by father who threw children off balcony

A FATHER who threw his two children off a hotel balcony, killing his son, won permission to launch a High Court challenge yesterday against an inquest verdict of unlawful killing.

Two judges ruled John Hogan’s case raised “serious points that are plainly arguable” and gave him permission to seek a judicial review.

Hogan wants to overturn Avon coroner Paul Forrest’s ruling earlier this year that his six-year-old son, Liam, was “unlawfully killed”.

Former tiler Hogan, 34, of Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, England, pushed Liam and his two-year-old sister, Mia, before jumping himself following a row with his then wife, Natasha.

Liam died, but Mia survived the 50ft plunge from the fourth-floor balcony while the family were on holiday in Crete two years ago. The unlawful killing verdict led to a police inquiry that may open up the possibility of a new murder trial in Britain.

Hogan, acting through his sister and with the benefit of legal aid, yesterday asked Lord Justice Dyson and Mr Justice Griffith Williams, sitting at London’s High Court, for permission to seek court orders quashing the verdict.

His lawyers argued it was an irrational decision, wrong in law and based on insufficient evidence.

The coroner was not represented at the hearing.

Giving permission for a judicial review, Lord Justice Dyson described it as “a tragic case”.

Hogan was cleared of murder by a Greek court in January, when a jury decided he had been suffering from “an earthquake of insanity”. He is being detained in a secure psychiatric unit in Greece.

In March, an inquest into Liam’s death was told that the Greek trial had ignored evidence from key witnesses. Forrest arrived at his verdict after taking this new evidence into account.

Hogan’s ex-wife was “distressed” by the prospect of the review, her family said.