A 37-year-old British banker has been granted temporary leave from Cyprus to attend his two-year-old son's funeral in the UK. The man faces charges of causing death by a reckless act after the toddler fell from a fourth-floor window at the King Evelthon Beach Hotel on July 12 .
A €30,000 bail and the September 14 deadline
The defendant, a City banker, was permitted to return to Britain on humanitarian grounds to reunite with his wife and five-year-old daughter.. According to the report , this arrangement required the father to provide an additional €10,000 in bail, bringing the total amount handed over to Cypriot authorities to €30,000.
His legal representative, Alexandros Alexandrou, stated that the banker is currently in a "very bad emotional condition" and was unable to follow court proceedings with clarity.. The temporary release is intended to allow the father to grieve before returning to the Mediterranean island by September 14 to face the legal system.
Conflicting accounts of the 33ft fall from the fourth floor
The central dispute in the case involves the moments leading up to the child's 33ft plunge onto a veranda. The father claims he placed the toddler on a windowsill while waiting for a lift, believing the 8ft by 4ft glass pane was closed. However, the window was open, and the boy slipped through.
Prosecutors offer a different version of events. As reported, authorities suggest the father was swinging the child from side to side by the waist when the boy fell through the open window. This charge of causing death by a "rash, reckless, or dangerous act" carries a maximum prison sentence of four years.
Four British deaths and an unlicensed pool at King Evelthon
The incident at the King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas is not an isolated tragedy involving British tourists. The two-year-old is the fourth British guest to die at the property in four years.. Previous fatalities include 21-year-old Ben Woods, who drowned in the pool in July 2022, and six-year-old Ruaridh Nairne, who drowned in 2023.
Beyond these deaths, the resort's safety standards have been called into question. A British tribunal last year discovered that the King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort does not possess a proper licence for its swimming pool, yet the report indicates that no corrective action appears to have been taken.
The missing corridor CCTV and the prosecution's alcohol claim
A significant gap in the evidence is the lack of CCTV footage in the hotel corridor where the father and the child's grandfather were waiting for dinner at 6 p.m. on July 12. Without visual evidence, the case relies heavily on witness testimony and forensic details.
The prosecution's case is further bolstered by the fact that the father had a small amount of alcohol in his system,having consumed between one and two drinks. It remains unclear if the prosecution believes the alcohol impaired the father's judgment or if it is being used to establish a pattern of recklessness. The defendant is expected to enter a plea in court on September 17.
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