Grieving father found in huge police search

POLICE in Akaki on Sunday launched a huge operation to track down Michalis Papiris, the father of the boy believed to have been murdered by four British tourists in Protaras last Friday, after he disappeared for almost seven hours.

According to local residents, the grieving father had tried to kill himself after his son Christos’ funeral on Saturday by jumping off the roof of his house, but was retrained by neighbours and family members. Residents and police then feared the worst after Papiris walked out of his house without taking his mobile telephone. He was last seen leaving the local cemetery. After not returning for several hours, police launched a search party. He was eventually spotted by a helicopter walking disorientated around the hills nearby. Police said the 50-year-old butcher was unharmed.

Four British tourists from Essex have been remanded in custody in connection with Christos Papiris’ death. They are suspected of deliberately and repeatedly ramming their rental car into the moped on which he was riding pillion, throwing him into a lamppost. The rider of the moped was seriously injured in the incident.

The tourists are believed to have been seeking revenge for an earlier fight outside a nightclub, in which one of their friends ended up in hospital. Police say Christos Papiris had no connection with the fight.

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