Hotel leap dad John Hogan released in three months

By Sarah Arnold Sarah.Arnold@sundaymirror.co.uk 17/02/2008

John Hogan

EXCLUSIVE DOCS PLAN TO RELEASE CRETE HOTEL LEAP DAD

Balcony plunge dad John Hogan will be a free man in just three months. Doctors in Greece say he has made remarkable progress and - just three weeks after the trial - are already planning to release him.

It is a huge blow to his ex-wife Natasha who had wanted to see Hogan jailed for hurling himself and his two children from the fourth floor of a hotel balcony, killing their six-year-old son Liam.

At her home in Newport, South Wales, Natasha's new husband Richard Visser said: "Natasha is devastated and concerned that he could be released and return to the UK but we have no control over that."

Natasha's stepfather Brian Chandler said: "Bearing in mind his own defence lawyer said that he was a danger, not only to himself but to the general public, I think it would be quite remarkable if he recovered sufficiently to be released in the short term."

Hogan, 33, was cleared of the murder of Liam and the attempted murder of daughter Mia, now four.

A guilty verdict would have meant a 25-year jail sentence but the court accepted his defence that he was in the grip of an overwhelming psychotic episode at the time.

The Greek court referred him to a psychiatric hospital indefinitely, where his fate is in the hands of his doctors - not the judicial system. But medical experts there are already planning to set him free.

Last night Athanasios Kosmopoulos, managing director of the Hospital of Attica, near Athens, where Hogan is being treated, revealed: "I had a discussion with Mr Hogan's doctor and he's improving very well.

"His doctor is about to propose to the court that in three months he will be in a position to be free."

Hogan's lawyer Dimitris Xiritakis added: "He has committed no crime, so there is no punishment. In this case the courts have left it in the hands of the doctors to decide how long treatment is necessary. No time limit was specified.

"John wants very much to come back to England. He has been doing very well in therapy. The doctors are very pleased with his progress. He could be freed at any time - I think within months."

Former Bristol tiler Hogan and Natasha, 35, were on a make-or-break holiday in Chania, Crete, when, after a furious argument, Hogan hurled Liam from their balcony and then jumped himself, clutching daughter Mia, who was two at the time.

Mia survived the 50ft drop with a broken arm, her fall cushioned by her father's body, but Liam died of head injuries, despite the attempts of his mother, a casualty nurse, to save him.

During their argument, Natasha had told Hogan that she wanted a divorce. She has since married ambulance driver Richard Visser, 41.

In the 18-month wait for the trial, Hogan, who has a family history of mental illness and anxiety problems, attempted suicide five times.

In court his psychiatrist claimed that the threat that his wife would leave him had had the effect of "an earthquake of psychosis".

The couple had been together since 1996 but their relationship was not without problems. Hogan was devastated when his father died suddenly at 55.

Four months later his younger brother Stephen committed suicide. And daughter Mia was just four weeks old when Hogan's second brother Paul threw himself off the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The court heard that Hogan was emotionally fragile and suspicious of his wife's friendship with Richard Visser, although she insists they were just good friends.

Three years earlier the Hogans' relationship had been rocked by his discovery of Natasha's "flirtatious" relationship with a colleague, finding cheeky emails between the pair - but she has always denied infidelity.

After a two-day trial, the jury agreed that Hogan was "incapable" and he was sent to the psychiatric unit indefinitely.

Natasha collapsed in the dock on hearing the verdict. She said afterwards: "I feel Liam has been cheated, and I have been terribly let down. As far as I'm concerned, John gave the performance of his life in court, a performance he's had 18 months to perfect.

"I hate him. I will never, ever forgive him for what he did. At first I felt pity for him - I really wanted to believe that what he'd done was a moment of madness. Now I feel nothing but anger.

"I honestly believe it was planned. He was never going to let them go. He was obsessive about them."

Precise details of Hogan's treatment cannot be revealed but at the hospital Mr Kosmopoulos said: "He's doing very well. We have an improvement - not a slight improvement, we have a considerable improvement.

I have no doubt about that because our doctors are of outstanding skills. I'm very happy to tell you that in three months he will be in a position probably, and hopefully, to leave our hospital."

Hogan has also made a complete recovery from the physical injuries he sustained in the plunge. Mr Kosmopoulos added: "I think on this side of medical treatment there is no pending problem right now. The problems that were caused are now declining."

Since his transfer to the hospital, Hogan has received visits from his mother Josephine and sister and has enjoyed some moments of "tranquility" around the hospital which is set in several acres.

Meantime Natasha is hoping to move to Australia with Mr Visser and Mia to start a new life. There is no contact between Hogan and his daughter.

Mr Kosmopoulos added: "Hogan is not a danger - he's a free man, a free patient to be exact. He's not under custody. He's under medical surveillance but this is not depressing his personal life as a patient. This is not a jail. This is a hospital."

Natasha's stepfather Brian Chandler has revealed that the coroner in Bristol has told the family he plans to re-open the inquest into Liam's death in April.

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