British men involved in moped death to be brought back to Cyprus

POLICE ARE flying to the UK today to bring back the two cousins involved in the manslaughter of Cypriot teenager Christos Papiris to serve their three-year sentences in Cyprus.

Luke Atkinson and Michael Binnington, believed to be 24, from Witham, Essex, were originally cleared of blame for the death of Christos Papiris, 17, in a 2006 road crash but were later convicted by the Supreme Court in their absence.

Police are flying to London today, where the UK authorities are due to hand over the two tomorrow so they may bring them to Cyprus to serve their sentences at the Central Prison.

Elena Zachariadou, a senior state prosecutor, said yesterday all legal measures of appeal were exhausted in the UK, opening the way for the British authorities to finally deliver the two to serve out their sentences after being found guilty of culpable manslaughter.

“The two were co-passengers in the car and have been sentenced to three-years in prison after an appeal lodged by the Attorney-general, following their acquittal by the criminal court,” she said.

The cousins had been on holiday and travelling in a car driven by their uncle, Julian Harrington, 41, when it collided with a moped in Protaras in August 2006.

The Supreme Court ruled evidence showed the pair had “undoubtedly encouraged” Harrington to pursue the moped to take revenge after a fight outside a nightclub.

Harrington was jailed in 2007 for 15 years for the manslaughter of Papiris after admitting manslaughter and grievous bodily harm.

Since January 2009, he has been serving the remainder of his jail term in a UK prison, following a transfer agreement between the two countries.

Local teenager, Papiris, 17, was killed and his best friend Marios Demetriou was seriously injured when a rental car driven by Harrington deliberately rammed their moped at high speed.

Papiris, was killed after being flung from the moped onto a lamppost. Harrington then rammed into the bike a second time, in an attempt to get Demetriou.

It later transpired that Harrington had targeted Papiris’ moped mistakenly, thinking that he had been involved in a fight outside the Boogies nightclub in central Protaras earlier the same night.

The two Cypriots were not involved in the nightclub brawl.

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.