Balcony-tragedy wife details marriage breakdown

A father accused of murdering his six-year-old son by leaping off a fourth-floor hotel balcony today told a Greek court he “did not plan” to kill his children.

John Hogan, 34, from Bristol in England, plunged 50ft from the four-star Petra Mare hotel, in Crete, with Liam and his daughter Mia, then aged two, during a family holiday in August 2006.

Liam died after suffering massive head injuries in the fall, but Mia survived after breaking her arm.

John Hogan was charged today with murder and attempted suicide.

Speaking through a translator, Hogan's ex-wife Natasha Hogan told the court how the couple "dearly loved their children" but their marriage was breaking down.

She said: “We loved our children so much but the marriage was not working - this had gone on for a long time."

She described how Hogan had refused to go trick-or-treating with Liam in the October 2005 – nine months before their fateful holiday.

She said: “It was Halloween and we had promised to take Liam trick-or-treating. We were going around all the houses but John said: 'I am not going anywhere.' He did not want to go with him.”

The hearing was repeatedly interrupted while translations were relayed to the panel.

Mrs Hogan told how the holiday booked to patch up their marriage was ruined by constant rowing.

She said at one point Hogan confronted her about his fear that she was thinking of leaving him.

She said that on the third day of the trip, Hogan had tried to kiss her. She told the court: “When I moved away, he said: ’You are thinking, aren’t you?’.

“I said: ’Yes I am.'”

She added: “When we discussed our problems, he just said: 'I am not talking about this now.'”

Mrs Hogan said Liam was becoming upset by his parents’ constant arguments.

On the night before her son’s death, she said she had left the room because Hogan was getting increasingly angry.

She said he was now certain she would leave.

She said: “He said: 'Do you think you will go to live with your mother?' I replied: 'Maybe I will, yes.'”

At 6pm on the night Liam died, Mrs Hogan got changed and took the children to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner because Hogan was “agitated”.

She said: “I asked him to calm down because the kids were there. I bathed the children and then took them down to dinner.”

She then described how Hogan kept coming down to the restaurant in an increasingly "angry" mood.

Ahead of the trial, Mrs Hogan fought back tears as English police officer Russ Jones read out a statement on her behalf.

It said: “These past months have been particularly trying times for all those concerned. I feel that I am able in that respect to speak for both sides of the family.

“I am able to say that Mia is much better now and has made a full recovery from the injuries sustained that day. She is in regular contact with John’s side of the family and enjoys a loving and caring relationship in that respect.

“Whatever the outcome of this investigation I hope that Mia will continue to have contact with John’s side of the family and, whatever the result of this particular court case, I hope that the support for each other continues as it has during these difficult times.”

Hogan’s mother Josephine travelled to Crete for the trial, which is expected to last at least two days.

The murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Denying the charge of murder, Hogan told the Criminal Court, in the harbour resort of Chania, Crete: “I do not accept the charge that I planned to kill my children.”

He added, in a voice cracking with emotion: “I did not plan it.”

A jury of three men and a woman was selected to sit alongside the three judges, who will hear Hogan's case between them.

Defence lawyer Dimitris Xiritakis handed the panel a list of witnesses he plans to call before the prosecution was called to enter its case.

Mrs Papanikolopoulou, prosecuting, briefly described the fatal events of August 15, 2006.

She said: “He took the children and fell from the balcony 12 metres. This led to the death of his son and light injuries to his daughter. He also sustained injuries. He is charged with murder and attempted suicide.”

The tragic events unfolded midway through a two-week break at the 227-bed hotel, which overlooks the beach of Lerapetra, in Crete.

Hogan, then 32, and the children were taken to Heraklion University Hospital following the fall.

Liam, who was hurled over first, was declared dead despite his mother’s frantic attempts to resuscitate him.

Miraculously Mia had only a broken arm because she was being held by her father as they landed.

Hogan, who ran a tiling business in Bristol was later charged with murder and attempted murder.

He has been held in an Athens jail for 16 months and has attempted to kill himself “several times” since being arrested.

He has received treatment for clinical depression and his lawyers previously argued he was not mentally fit to stand trial.