Richard Carson and Nicola Gibson’s Greek lawyer has branded the decision to hold a retrial into the deaths of two children in Corfu in 2006 grossly unfair.
The Thomas Cook reps were unanimously cleared of any wrongdoing by three judges in a Corfu courtroom at the beginning of the month.
But it emerged over the weekend that the father of Christianne Shepherd, seven, and her brother Bobby, six who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday, has successfully appealed against the verdicts.
Lawyer Ilias Anagnostopoulos said he was struggling to explain to his clients why they faced a second trial after a highly unusual overturning of the judges’ decision, but added he was confident they would be cleared again.
In his view, the original trial was very thorough and he argued such a retrial would be impossible in the UK or the US, because it would count as double jeopardy – being tried for the same crime twice.
Nine Greeks and the two reps faced trial and on May 4 the manager of the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel, in Gouvia, and two other staff were convicted of manslaughter.
Mr Shepherd appealed against the not guilty verdicts because he believed his children had not received justice.
The Greek island’s council of prosecutors ordered a retrial after deciding that vital court evidence had been ignored by the judges in the original case.
If a new trial goes ahead it will probably be held next year.