Thomas Cook employees face Corfu retrial in connection with child deaths

HOLIDAY company Thomas Cook is standing by two employees after it was revealed they face a retrial in connection with the deaths of two British children from carbon monoxide poisoning in Corfu.

Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her brother Robert, six, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, died after a faulty boiler leaked gas into their bungalow on the Greek island in October 2006.

Thomas Cook employees Richard Carson, 28, and Nicola Gibson, 26, were charged but were cleared of any wrongdoing this month.

Thomas Cook said Carson, a customer affairs executive, and Gibson, a holiday representative, will face a retrial alongside eight Greeks, who were also involved in the original trial.

It is believed an appeal by prosecutors against the verdicts was upheld and a new trial may take place next year. Prosecutors were reported to have decided "vital court evidence had been ignored by the judges" and guilty verdicts called for by prosecutor Maria Tataki had been largely ignored.

During the lengthy case at Corfu Town courthouse, judges heard that carbon monoxide fumes at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel in Gouvia leaked into the bungalow from an outhouse next door.

Christi and Bobby were on a 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.

Carson and Gibson were charged alongside the Greeks with manslaughter by negligence in relation to the children and causing bodily injury by negligence to Shepherd and Beatson.

Speaking after the pair were found not guilty, Thomas Cook UK & Ireland chief executive Pete Constanti said the "thorough and robust trial" had confirmed the innocence of his staff. Commenting on the retrial, Shepherd said: "Happy is not the right word. We should not be in this position."