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Cook rep Nicola Gibson will not face retrial

Thomas Cook rep Nicola Gibson will not face a retrial over the deaths of two children in Corfu in 2006.

Earlier this month Gibson and her colleague Richard Carson were cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy trial involving them and nine Greeks.

They were found not guilty of manslaughter by negligence of seven-year-old Christianne Shepherd and her brother Bobby, six, and causing bodily injury by negligence in relation to the children’s father Neil Shepherd and his partner Ruth Beatson.

But soon after the verdict the children’s parents successfully instructed their lawyers to push for a retrial on the basis of relevant evidence not being taken into account.

It appeared the pair would both face a retrial next year but Thomas Cook confirmed this morning that Nicola would definitely not be back in court.

The decision to hold a retrial for either Carson or Gibson was last week branded unfair by lawyer Ilias Anagnostopoulos. He said he was struggling to explain why either would face a second trial after a highly unusual overturning of the judges’ decision.

Hotel manager Georgios Chrysikopoulos, head of the hotel technical department Petros Stoyiannos and hotel electrician Christos Louvros were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. Civil engineer Dimitrios Xidias was given two years on probation.

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