**The Greek lawyer of two holiday workers has branded as “grossly unfair” the retrial due over the carbon monoxide poisoning deaths of two children.**The Thomas Cook staff were cleared of negligent manslaughter this month.
But the father of the two British children who suffocated in their holiday bungalow has successfully appealed against the verdicts.
Lawyer Ilias Anagnostopoulos said he was struggling to explain to his clients why they faced a second trial.
He described the original trial as very thorough and said it was highly unusual for the unanimous decision of a judges panel to be overturned in this way.
Mr Anagnostopoulos argued such a retrial would be impossible in the UK or United States, because it would count as “double jeopardy”.
But this principle - which prevents people facing trial for the same crime twice - was scrapped in England and Wales in 2005. The Scottish government is considering whether to also drop the 800-year-old law.
Half-term tragedy
Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her brother Bobby, six, of Horbury, West Yorkshire, died in October 2006 after being overcome by fumes from a faulty boiler during a half-term holiday.
Mr Shepherd and his partner, Ruth Beatson, recovered after several days in a coma.
Thomas Cook workers Richard Carson, 28, and Nicola Gibson, 26, were found not guilty by a court in Corfu on 4 May.
But the manager of the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel, in Gouvia, and two other staff were convicted of manslaughter.
Mr Shepherd appealed against the not guilty verdicts because he believed his children had not received justice.
The Greek island’s council of prosecutors ordered a retrial after deciding that vital court evidence had been ignored by the judges in the original case.
A new trial will probably be held next year.
Mr Anagnostopoulos said he was confident the Thomas Cook staff would be cleared again.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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