A British father, who faces charges related to the death of his two-year-old son at a hotel in Cyprus, has been permitted to travel to the United Kingdom for his child's funeral. The 37-year-old city banker was allowed to leave Cyprus for one month on humanitarian grounds after posting an additional €10,000 in bail. His passport will be returned to him temporarily.
The incident occurred on July 12 at the King Evelthon Hotel near Paphos. The father stated he placed his toddler on a windowsill while waiting for an elevator, believing the window was closed. However, the window was open, and the boy fell approximately 33 feet from the fourth-floor veranda to his death.
The man is charged with causing death by a rash, reckless, or dangerous act, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of four years. He is expected to return to Cyprus on September 14 to appear in court on September 17, where he will enter a plea. He must provide authorities with his UK address, phone number, and employer's address. Upon his return to Cyprus, his passport will be confiscated, and his name will be added to a stop list.
His defense attorney had urged the judge to grant the request on humanitarian grounds, emphasizing the man's need to be with his wife and five-year-old surviving daughter. The family, who had returned to Britain with the child's body the previous Wednesday, had been awaiting the court's decision to allow the father to attend the funeral. His name was removed from the stop list for one month, and the €10,000 bail will be returned pending his reappearance in Cyprus.
Prosecutors have suggested the father was holding the child and swinging him when the fall occurred, but this account is strongly denied by the family. They maintain he briefly placed the boy on the windowsill, noting no indication the large glass sliding pane was open. The prosecution also noted the father had a small amount of alcohol in his system, having consumed one to two drinks. In Cyprus, there are no laws mandating that windows must be shut if they are more than 1.1 meters from the ground.
The father was initially held on remand for eight days, a period that reportedly caused outrage on the island. The family's lawyer stated that his client is struggling but is relieved by the outcome, allowing him to grieve properly with his family.
This incident is not the first tragedy at the King Evelthon Hotel. The child's death marks the third British guest fatality at the resort in the past four years. A 21-year-old man drowned in the hotel pool in July 2022, followed by a six-year-old boy who drowned the next year. Another woman reportedly died while swimming in 2024. Despite a British tribunal finding last year that the resort's pool lacked a license, no apparent action has been taken. Hotel management maintains it has the correct documentation and has been cleared by police investigations. A recent visit by the Daily Mail found the fourth-floor window from which the toddler fell remained open, with no warning signs or safety measures in place.