In Brief
BRITON FREED
Man who killed son in balcony jump to go home after 3 years A British man who has been in a Greek psychiatric hospital for nearly three years after jumping off a hotel balcony in Crete holding his two children, killing his son and injuring his daughter, was set free by an Athens court yesterday. John Hogan, 35, could be back in England as early as next week after the court ruled that he was fit to return home. Hogan had been convicted of the unlawful killing of his 6-year-old son Liam but a Greek court overturned that conviction earlier this month, accepting that Hogan had been temporarily insane at the time. KIOSK ROBBERY Police trace murder suspects Police in the coastal district of Palaio Faliron said they had cracked the case regarding the murder of a 45-year-old street kiosk manager in February last year. The chief suspect, who is believed to have shot the kiosk worker before robbing him of 100 euros, is a 20-year-old Albanian national who was killed in a shootout prompted by a drug-related dispute in the central Athens district of Aghios Panteleimonas last month. Another two Albanians are implicated in the murder, one of whom is in prison while the other remains at large, police said. Fatal fall A 54-year-old municipal garbage disposal worker died in the hospital yesterday a few hours after falling off the back of a truck during a trash collection tour in Palama, a small town near Karditsa in central Greece. The man reportedly lost his balance and fell onto the road while the vehicle was in motion. ISAP disruption As works continue on the Kifissia-Piraeus urban electric railway (ISAP) there will be no service today and tomorrow between the stations Attiki and Ano Patissia. A replacement bus service will be available. Child porn Police in the northern prefecture of Imathia yesterday were questioning a 50-year-old man after confiscating a computer hard drive from his home that allegedly contained hardcore pornographic images of children. Officers believe the suspect may be a member of a larger child porn ring. Burglars collared Two Georgians, aged 44 and 26, were charged yesterday in connection with more than 40 burglaries in several districts of central Athens and the southern coastal suburb of Palaio Faliron. Officers are also seeking another suspected ring member, the 23-year-old son of the elder detainee. Car break-ins A 28-year-old man is believed to be behind a spate of car break-ins over the past two years in various parts of Thessaloniki, police said yesterday. The suspect is believed to have broken into 45 cars and stolen stereo equipment and other goods whose value exceeds 33,000 euros. Opportunistic thief A 25-year-old man, alleged to have stolen a bag containing 40,000 euros from the back seat of a parked car as the vehicle’s owner was changing a flat tire, was being questioned by police in Thessaloniki. He was caught after the car owner spotted him fleeing with the bag and alerted police.
