Father unlawfully killed boy, 6

A six-year-old boy who was pushed to his death by his father from a balcony at their holiday hotel was unlawfully killed, a coroner ruled yesterday.

Liam Hogan was in Crete with his father John, mother Natasha and younger sister Mia when he died in August 2006.

Witnesses saw Mr Hogan, 37, stand behind his children and push them off the fourth floor balcony before jumping 50ft to the ground himself.

Liam died from head injuries. Mia, then aged two, survived. Mr Hogan also survived and was declared insane by Greek authorities. But Dr Akuntundi Akinkummi, a consultant forensic psychologist, told the inquest in Flax Bourton, near Bristol, he did not believe Mr Hogan was mentally ill at the time. He was angry and emotional as his wife had said she was leaving him.

The inquest was the second into the death. The original verdict that Liam was unlawfully killed by his father was overturned by the High Court because Mr Hogan's mental state was not considered. He did not attend yesterday as he is being treated at a psychiatric unit.