Parents' anger over gas leak ruling
05/05/2010
The parents of two siblings who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday have said they are "beyond disappointed" after a tour company was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her brother Robert, six, died after a faulty boiler leaked gas into their holiday apartment in Corfu in 2006.
The youngsters, from Wakefield, were on holiday with their father Neil Shepherd and his partner Ruth Beatson. Both adults fell into a coma as a result of the gas but survived.
Mr Shepherd and the children's mother Sharon Wood said their faith in the company had been "misplaced and abused".
Following a three-month trial, two Thomas Cook employees, Richard Carson, 28, and Nicola Gibson, 26, were cleared of manslaughter by negligence at a court in Corfu.
They were also found not guilty of causing bodily injury by negligence to Mr Shepherd and Ms Beatson.
The Corfu Town courthouse heard that carbon monoxide fumes at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel in Gouvia leaked into the bungalow from an outhouse next door.
President of the judging panel Panagiotis Molyvdas said the tour company staff were misinformed by the hotel manager that there was no gas being used in the bungalows and they were not responsible for "bringing about the lethal outcome".
The judge blamed hotel manager Georgios Chrysikopoulos, head of the hotel technical department Petros Stoyiannos and hotel electrician Christos Louvros, who were each sentenced to seven years in jail.
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