Gas safety checks by tour firm 'might have prevented' children's deaths in Corfu

A BROTHER and sister who died from carbon monoxide poisoning on holiday might have been saved if their tour operator had carried out more thorough checks, a court heard yesterday. Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her brother Robert, six, 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, from West Yorkshire.

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

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

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