Tycoon’s sons face jail

THE TWO sons of UK-based Greek Cypriot property tycoon Andreas Panayiotou are facing three years in jail after attacking two off-duty police officers in London over Christmas 2012 after a night out in Soho.

According to a report in the Daily Mail George Panayiotou, 26 and his brother Costas, 24, left the officer maimed and needing needing titanium plates in his cheek and eye socket. The siblings, and two friends Yiannaki Stavrou, 30, and Christopher Stavrou, 28, pleaded guilty on Tuesday.

The attack happened on November 30, 2012 after one of the officers shouted from across the road at George Panayiotou who was fooling around and pretending to push one of the group into the road. The two officers then moved on.

However Costas Panayiotou crossed the road to attack one of the policemen.

According to the prosecution he punched the off duty officer Gavin Collins, knocking him to the ground. Yiannakis Stavros then ran across the road and punched another officer, Matthew Holland, from behind. They were then joined by George Panayiotou and Christopher Stavrou and all four attacked the officers, only stopping when bouncers from nearby clubs intervened. The four ran off but were arrested in January 2013.

The four are due to be sentenced on May 2.

The father of the siblings, self-made millionaire Andreas Panayiotou is said to be worth 400 million sterling after making it big on the property market in the nineties.

 

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.