Gas checks 'could have saved lives of holiday children'

Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her six-year-old brother Robert, from Wakefield, died after a faulty boiler leaked gas into their Corfu bungalow in October 2006.

The children were on half-term holiday with their father Neil Shepherd and his partner Ruth Beatson, who were both left in a coma as a result of the accident but survived.

Thomas Cook employees Richard Carson, 28, and Nicola Gibson, 26, face charges of manslaughter by negligence in relation to the children and causing bodily injury by negligence to Mr Shepherd and Ms Beatson.

District Attorney Maria Tataki told Corfu Town courthouse today that the Thomas Cook employees should have realised gas was being used in the bungalows.

This would have prompted further inspections by the tour operator which could have saved the children's lives.

She said: "I firmly believe that a tour operator like Thomas Cook should have conducted a more thorough check.

"It doesn't suffice to say that you trust the owners of the hotel, that you trust the managers of the hotel. No. It's not enough.

"Had the audits been more thorough the results may have been averted."

The court was told Carson was employed as a customer affairs executive, with responsibility for filling out health and safety questionnaires, while Gibson was an overseas representative.

Ms Tataki said: "I can't understand why the person who fills in a questionnaire, a person coming from a country with vast experience in issues of gas and many more victims because of gas problems, I can't understand why they couldn't have shown more personal attention to the facts, not only to what the manager of the hotel said.

"What was the meaning of the check after all?"

She said the employees should have recognised that there were gas boilers present, even if the boilers were in outhouses adjacent to the rooms and not in the rooms themselves.

But the court heard Carson accepted the hotel manager's information that there was no gas in the rooms.

Nine Greeks, including the manager of the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel in Gouvia, George Chrysikopoulos, are also on trial over the deaths.

The court heard how carbon monoxide fumes leaked into the bungalow from an outhouse next door where the "decrepit" boiler had sprang a leak.

There was no flue for the gas to be released and it seeped into the bungalow through holes in the roof.

The court heard the thermostat, which could have helped prevent the accident, had been "wired off".

Public prosecutor Theodore Alissandratos told the court Carson should have at least asked what was in the outhouses.

He said: "He didn't perform a proper inspection of the area.

"The people who trust Thomas Cook with their vacation have the right to believe that they are safe.

"How can they be safe with an inspection like that? They can't be safe."

Public prosecutor Thomas Athanasiou said if Thomas Cook had been alerted to the presence of gas boilers they would have sent inspectors to check their safety.

And he said the case file should be sent to the UK authorities to look into whether the company was following safety regulations.

He said: "In 2006 Thomas Cook brought to Corfu 50,000 visitors and left Corfu with 49,998 visitors.

"They left both Christi and Bobby behind them and this is something they should always be make to remember for it never to happen again."

Mr Shepherd and Ms Beatson listened intently along with the children's mother, Sharon Wood, and her husband Paul.

A verdict is now expected in the coming days.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: "This accident happened because of a unique and unforeseeable set of circumstances for which neither Richard Carson or Nicola Gibson are responsible and should not be blamed in any way."

The court heard Mr Carson, who took a three-year course in tourism enterprise, had little knowledge of gas.

The prosecutors argued that he should have seen the five large gas tanks at the hotel and asked what they were.

They said a thorough audit of the bungalows would have shown that gas was being used in the rooms and pipes would have been visible.

But Thomas Cook says he was told categorically there was no gas in the rooms.

Mr Athanasiou said: "If Thomas Cook gives them just 15 minutes training, they should be held accountable."

The court heard the boiler was in a "repulsive" state and was "decrepit" with "rust corrosion".

Not only was there no chimney for the boiler, the thermostatic safety valve had been bypassed.

There was also a hole between the outhouse and the bungalow, allowing the fumes to pass through.

Ms Tataki said: "I firmly believe that each one of the accused is part of a link in the chain of responsibility."

The nine Greeks are also charged with manslaughter by negligence and bodily injury by negligence.

Ms Tataki said Mr Chrysikopoulos, the hotel manager, Petros Stoyiannos, the head of the technical department at the hotel, and Christos Louvros, a hotel electrician, all failed to act.

She said even as lay people with little knowledge of gas, they should have seen the poor state of the boiler.

But the court heard Stoyiannos saw the boiler as "something extra-terrestrial" and beyond his knowledge.

As well as the three hotel employees, architect Alexandros Gavrielidis and civil engineer Dimitros Xidias are on trial.

Prosecutors said they were at fault for designing and agreeing to build the outhouses without a chimney.

They also blame boiler maintenance engineers Theo Koromios and Nikolaos Varthis, who should have organised the removal and replacement of the boiler and never allowed its continued operation without a flue.

Also on trial are safety technician Damianis Goudelis, who signed the safety certificates for the hotel, and Michael Florentiadis, who renovated the roof in 2001.

Stoyiannos, Xidias, Gavrielidis and Florentiadis are also accused of breaching building regulations.