These beautiful two children died whilst on a holiday in Corfu. A holiday which was arranged through the company Thomas Cook. In an incident that happened 8 years ago - October 2006. The Shepherd family were on holiday taking a half term break when the chalet they were in was flooded by carbon monoxide fumes. It was odd the day before the children (6 and 7 years old) were complaining of not feeling well, and the next evening they died. Their parents also suffered from monoxide poisoning but were rushed to hospital and managed to pull through. The hotel they stayed at was not owned by Thomas Cook just subcontracted to Thomas Cook, it was the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel. The holiday had cost Mr and Mrs Shepherd £2000 and the lives of their children. Thomas Cook had not taken any liability for the condition of this chalet, but they of course don't mind taking the profit from selling the holiday.A gas engineer examined the boiler to the chalet and described the boiler as being "bodged and botched" a safety valve which would automatically kick in if fumes were leaking had been purposefully short circuited, because of this it would not automatically cut off. There was no flue connection to the outside, so effectively these toxic fumes had no where to escape other than through a wall adjacent to the children's bedroom. They were gassed to death. It took these 8 years for Mr and Mrs Shepherd to bring this case to the Wakefield Coroner's Court the children's mother Sharon Wood also attended the court hearing.
Thomas Cook in turn sued the owners of the hotel for this event. They were awarded damages of one million pounds. They did not divulge to the Shepherds of the legal action they took neither did they offer any form of compensation to the Shepherds. In effect Thomas Cook appear to have gained £3.5 million from the death of two little children and thought they had got away from any liability. To add more despicable behaviour they will be giving a bonus of nearly £11 million to Harriett Green the previous Chief Executive of the company during this tragedy. Green refused to see the parents of these children and sees herself as having a completely clear conscience. Funny how it used to be that the buck stopped at the top, in reality the buck has nothing to do with anyone at the top. They just carry on business as usual, or not in this case. But still drawing their immensely large earnings, which Green did even though she had a period of gardening leave. Green should be up for manslaughter charges it is about time the buck and responsibility did stop at the top. This is one person who puts a value on life that is her own and no one else. If they are children she has not comment and just does her best not to be exposed to any kind of publicity.
The inquest
I hereby vow, I will never go on a Thomas Cook holiday in my life for what can only be deemed as profiting from the deaths of young children. If I can personally ensure that any other potential Thomas Cook customer does not go with Thomas Cook because of their actions over this news article I will.
