Father admits causing death of his son in Cyprus hotel fall

A British man has pleaded guilty to causing the death of his two-year-old son who fell from a hotel window in Cyprus.

The father, from Essex, admitted a charge of causing death through a reckless, rash or dangerous act at a court in Paphos on Tuesday.

The boy fell from the fourth floor of the King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas on 12 July, the Times had previously reported.

A further hearing will take place on 5 October when the prosecutor will set out the facts of the case and the defence will present mitigation, a court official confirmed.

The defendant's name was not given during the hearing.

The man was allowed to return to the UK for his child's funeral, on condition that he flew back to Cyprus last week in order for the plea hearing to take place.

His lawyer, Alexandros Alexandrou, said he would ask the court to lift travel restrictions so that his client can return to the UK to be with his wife and daughter until the next hearing.

Paphos district court was told in July that the boy fell through an open window when his father was holding him around his waist and swinging him from side to side.

The father decided to plead guilty to avoid a long trial and spare his family reliving the child's death in court, Alexandrou said.

A long trial would mean that the man was "again a victim of this tragedy", the lawyer told the Associated Press after Tuesday's hearing.

"The most important thing for him is to return to his family," he said.

The maximum sentence for the charge was four years in prison, but Alexandrou said the court should take previous cases into account where defendants had been fined or received a suspended sentence.

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