British father pleads guilty to causing son's death in Cyprus

A British father has admitted to causing the death of his son while on holiday in Cyprus.

The man from Essex was charged with causing death by a reckless act after the toddler fell from the fourth floor of the King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas on 12 July.

Paphos district court was told in July that the boy fell through an open window when his father was holding him around his waist and swinging him from side to side.

But on Tuesday The Sun reported he disputes this, and says he sat his son on a window ledge while waiting for a lift, without realising the window was open.

In a short hearing at a Paphos district court, the father entered a guilty plea and faces a prison sentence of up to four years.

A further hearing will take place on October 5 when the prosecutor will set out the facts of the case and the defence will present mitigation, a court official confirmed. They would not give the defendant’s name.

In a last-minute bid for his freedom, his legal team had petitioned the court to have the case dropped on humanitarian grounds but this was rejected by the Cyprus attorney-general, George Savvides.

The father was arrested after the incident and charged with negligence, but a court released him from detention on condition that he surrender his passport, check in weekly at a police station and post a £17,000 bond. He was granted permission to travel home for the funeral of his child in exchange for a £25,750 bail fee.