Plunge death Briton says suicide runs in his family

ATHENS, Aug 31 (Reuters) A Briton charged with the murder and attempted murder of his two children after plunging from a hotel balcony told a Greek prosecutor that suicide ran in his family, a police source said.

John Hogan appeared before a prosecutor on the island of Crete with his mother and another relative by his side, the source told Reuters yesterday.

''He fell into their arms, crying and saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry','' the source said. ''His relatives were crying with him.'' Hogan has been charged with murder over the death of his six-year-old son Liam, and attempted murder over injuries to his younger daughter Mia.

The source said Hogan had told the prosecutor, who will decide later yesterday whether the Briton will be allowed bail pending his trial, that suicide run in his family and two of his brothers had taken their own lives.

''Hogan told the prosecutor his two brothers had committed suicide and that suicide was running in his family like an illness,'' the source said.

One brother took a drugs overdose a decade ago while another jumped off a bridge in Bristol, the Briton said.

''Hogan also said he was agonising over a tiling business he had set up, fearing he would not be able to support his family,'' the source added.

Hogan fell, his two children under his arms, from a balcony on the fourth floor of their hotel in the town of Ierapetra on August 15 during a family holiday.

Hundreds of mourners turned out on Tuesday for the funeral near Bristol in western England of Liam Hogan, who died of head injuries sustained in the fall. His sister Mia survived with a broken arm.

Hogan, under guard in hospital in Crete with a broken arm, leg and hip, asked the prosecutor to transfer him to Athens prison's mental ward if he decided to jail him until his trial.

''He also provided documents from the hospital in Crete that say he is still suicidal,'' the source said. ''If he is diagnosed as insane, he could be released within two or three years.'' Reuters SRS VP0506