Holiday workers cleared in Corfu children’s deaths
Ferry Online Travel News 06/05/2010
Thomas Cook reps cleared in deaths of two children from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Two representatives of the holiday firm were found not guilty of manslaughter by negligence in the holiday deaths of British children Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her brother Robert, who was six years old. The children were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes that left their father, Neil, and his girlfriend Ruth Beatson in comas.
By the time a hotel chambermaid discovered the four the next morning, it was too late to save the children. The deadly gas came from a faulty boiler, the installation of which was described by a mechanical engineer as the worst he had seen in fifty years.
The children were killed during a half-term break at a holiday bungalow in Corfu. Charges had been brought against Richard Carson, 28, and Nicola Gibson, 26. Greek prosecutors were seeking convictions against the two Thomas Cook employees for their alleged role in the deaths.
Prosecutors also brought charges against staff from the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel. Three hotel employees each received seven-year jail terms. A local civil engineer was put on probation for two years.
A Thomas Cook representative maintained that the accident, though tragic, was caused by a unique set of circumstances and that neither the company nor the two representatives could be held responsible. The children’s mother, 39 year-old Sharon Wood, was concerned the tragedy was likely to happen again unless more were made aware of the dangers.
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