Briton awaits Crete murder ruling

April 19 2007

ITV News

A Briton accused of murdering his parents at their Crete home could have all charges against him dropped, a legal campaign group has said.

Ryan Johnson, 33, a dance instructor, had always denied killing Terry, 53, and Josephine, 54, originally from Newlyn in Cornwall, at their Mediterranean dream home in Almirida.

On March 12 last year he had been staying with them and awoke to discover they had been stabbed and strangled with a washing line. The house has also been burgled.

According to Catherine Wolthuizen of charity Fair Trials Abroad, Greek prosecutors have formally recommended that the charges are dropped.

Ms Wolthuizen said: "There was never any motive nor evidence connecting Ryan to the crime.
"Charges were laid on the flimsiest of pretexts, and appeared to be more about appeasing local fears by finding a quick scapegoat, than finding the real perpetrator."

She continued: "When DNA evidence revealed the involvement of an 'unknown male' but failed to show any link between Ryan and the crime, any cause to prosecute him evaporated."

Ms Wolthuizen said: "The subsequent police investigation was characterised by gross incompetence.
"Crucial evidence was lost or destroyed, the police failed to submit a medical report in Ryan's favour and despite similar burglaries and murders in the same area following his arrest, police did not investigate any other leads.
"However, Ryan is not out of the woods yet. The Crete court must accept the prosecution's recommendation that the charges against him be dropped - which will take several months.

"It may yet decide to subject him to trial, in the face of the recommendation that there is no case for him to answer. Until he learns whether he is truly free to mourn his parents in peace, he must endure the tense wait on the island."