By Daily Mail (World News) | Created at 2026-08-07 10:50:18 | Updated at 2026-08-07 11:29:19
47 minutes ago
The British father charged over the death of his two-year-old son at a luxury hotel in Cyprus is in a 'very bad emotional condition', his lawyer said.
The 37-year-old City banker, who was charged with causing death by 'a rash, reckless, or dangerous act' after his young son fell out of a window at the King Evelthon Hotel near Paphos last month, has returned to the UK for the child's funeral.
The father had a restriction requiring him to remain on the Mediterranean island lifted for one month on humanitarian grounds.
As a result, he was able to join his wife and surviving daughter, five, who returned to Britain with the son's body last Wednesday.
His lawyer, Alexandros Alexandrou, told local media today: 'He has already returned to his homeland.
'I spoke with him last night. He has reunited with his family and they are preparing for the burial of their young child.'
Alexandrou said his client was in a very vulnerable position: 'He is in a very bad emotional condition. He cannot follow the court proceedings with clarity.'
The father said he placed the toddler on the windowsill while waiting for the lift at the hotel believing the window was closed.
But it had been left wide open and the boy slipped and fell 33ft from the fourth storey onto the veranda below where he died on July 12.
The family were staying at the all-inclusive King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas
The child fell from a fourth-floor window, which is protected by a tall, glass, sliding pane
The window the boy fell through to his death
The lawyer said that the father's return to the UK to grieve the loss of his child would mean he will be able to take part in legal proceedings with a clearer head: 'When he comes back, he will be able to give me the appropriate instructions, understand what we are doing, where we stand, what the consequences are and what procedures need to be followed. That will help both the legal process and himself.'
The banker must return to Cyprus by September 14, and is required to stay in contact with Cypriot authorities while he is away, as part of a deal that saw him put up an additional €10,000 for bail, on top of €20,000 handed over weeks ago.
Following the proceedings that saw him allowed to return to the UK, he walked over to Prosecutor Chryso Perganti on his way out and whispered 'thank you' after she did not raise an objection to his plea to return home.
Speaking after the hearing, the father held back tears and said: 'I'm very thankful to the judge and to the authorities for letting me go home to my wife and my daughter.
'That's all I want to do now.'
While he can travel home, the charge of causing death by a rash, reckless or dangerous act which carries a maximum sentence of four years still hangs over him.
Alexandros Alexandrou, defending, said after the five-minute hearing: 'Today he is still struggling, but he is happy with this outcome.
'He was crying because, as we all understand, he needs to go back to his family, to his house, to grieve properly and to reunite with the members of the family - not only with his wife.'
Proceedings at the court were halted until September 17, when the defendant is expected to enter a plea.
A friend previously told the Mail the family is 'living through an unimaginable nightmare'.
The father had a small amount of alcohol in his blood after having between one and two drinks which forms the central part of the prosecution case, the Mail understands.
Prosecutors have suggested he was holding the child around his waist and swinging him from side to side at the hotel when the boy fell through a window.
But this is strongly denied by the family who say he momentarily placed the boy on the windowsill as there were no signs the 8ft by 4ft glass was open.
In Cyprus there are no laws requiring windows to be shut no matter their size, provided they are more than 1.1m off the ground.
There is no CCTV in the corridor where the father and the child's grandfather were waiting to go down for dinner shortly after checking in at 6pm on July 12.
The family had initially told their surviving daughter that her brother was in hospital with his father.
But when his release was blocked for eight days the banker was forced to make a heartbreaking Facetime call from his cell explaining to the girl what had happened.
The two-year-old was described as 'deeply adored' and 'a truly special, easygoing little boy who brought so much joy to everyone around him'.
He is the fourth British guest to die while staying at King Evelthon Hotel in the past four years.
Ben Woods, 21, from Leigh in Greater Manchester drowned while playing volleyball in the hotel's pool in July 2022 before six-year-old Ruaridh Nairne from Inverness, Scotland drowned the following year.
Another woman reportedly died while swimming in 2024.
Yet despite a British tribunal last year finding the resort does not have a licence for its pool it appears no action has been taken.
The hotel refutes this and claims it has the correct paperwork, insisting it has been repeatedly cleared of any wrongdoing by police investigations.
Shockingly, when the Daily Mail visited the King Evelthon Hotel this week the large fourth-floor window through which the toddler fell is still open.
Management have not put any signposts warning of the danger nor locked the sliding glass shut.
