Cypriot Dad And Son Jailed For Death Of Brit Tourist

A Cypriot father and son have been jailed for the death of a British teenager on the books of League Two football club Stevenage FC who drowned after falling into a filthy hotel swimming pool while on holiday in a Cypriot party town.

The incident took place in Ayia Napa on the island of Cyprus in August 2014 when UK resident Savvakis Georgiou Alexandrou, 18, slipped and fell into the pool where he drowned after taking part in alcohol-fuelled festivities late at night, according to local media.

Even though there were apparently more than a dozen people around the pool, nobody noticed what had happened to him until a female swimmer tripped over his body at the bottom of the rubbish-filled pool on the morning of 18th August 2014.

At the time the pool was described as being green from algae and littered with rubbish that included syringes condoms and cigarette butts.

The youngster had travelled to the party hotspot with his cousin after they had visited their grandparents in nearby Protaras which was just a few miles away.

Credit: CEN/@Elbie Georgiou
Savvakis Alexandros Georgiou with his family

He had actually been booked into another hotel but then moved to a hotel that was part of the same group, the 194 room Kalypso, where he drowned.

His girlfriend Mercedes Cole wrote a tribute to him after his body was flown back home saying: “All I am able to say is I had the world’s best boyfriend and would do absolutely anything to be back in his arms MY beautiful angel.”

An autopsy confirmed that the victim had drowned and that alcohol use was a contributing factor.

The court said: “He had previously consumed a large quantity of alcohol, something which made his death quiet and imperceptible to others at the venue.”

The court added that signs around the complex warning of the risk of drinking were an “oxymoron as the people the signs were addressing had a diminished perception of the risk because of the consumption of alcohol.”

Prosecutors also likened the signs to a ‘fig leaf’ and not a proper safety measure.

The courts said: “[The] use of the pool in the early morning hours was not only open to people who had previously consumed alcohol, but was effectively encouraged, from what was shown, as part of a package combining alcohol consumption and the pool’s operation.”

According to local media, revellers ended up in the swimming pool in the early hours of the morning after leaving the town’s nightclubs and hot spots.

However, although the facility’s poolside bar was open and selling alcohol to guests, no lifeguards were on duty, according to reports.

The court said: “The defendants had created a dangerous situation due to the operation of a pool that was not tended by a lifeguard, in combination with the operation of an adjacent bar serving alcoholic drinks without the necessary safeguards for the participants.”

The court ruled that these oversights caused the death of the 18-year-old Brit.

The father and son, who have not been named but who were aged 63 and 33 at the time, and who are reportedly the owners of the hotel, have been jailed for four and three months respectively while the company they ran was also fined 2,000 EUR (1,680 GBP), according to local media.


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Story By: Lee BullenSub-EditorJoseph Golder,  Agency: Central European News

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