A two-year-old boy who fell to his death from a fourth-floor window at a Cyprus hotel suffered multiple serious injuries, a coroner has said.
The toddler sustained fatal injuries to his head, vital organs and body after falling almost 40ft from the five-star King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas.
Essex Coroner’s Court heard the tragedy happened on July 12, 2026, the first day of the family’s holiday on the Mediterranean island.
The child’s father, Joshua Foster, was fined €3,000 (£2,500) last month by a court in Paphos after admitting that he had caused his son’s death through a reckless, rash or dangerous act.
The judge told Foster he would carry guilt ‘for the rest of his life’ after hearing that he had placed the child on a windowsill to show him the view of a waterpark, unaware that the window was open.
Lincoln Brookes, Essex’s senior coroner, described the case as ‘particularly tragic’ as he opened and adjourned the inquest on Friday.
Joshua Foster pictured leaving court in Paphos in September after admitting causing his son’s death
The child fell from a fourth-floor window at the five-star King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas
When the Daily Mail visited the scene days after the July tragedy, the fourth-floor window was still open
‘This two-year-old child was on holiday with his family in Paphos, Cyprus,’ Mr Brookes said.
‘He sadly fell from a fourth-floor hotel window and, sadly, his death was confirmed at hospital later that same day.’
The provisional cause of death was recorded as ‘severe craniocerebral injuries and multiple injuries of the body and vital organs’.
Mr Brookes said a full inquest would be held on January 6 and offered his condolences to the boy’s family.
Foster, an AI director at Big Four accounting firm KPMG, ‘lost control’ of his son while showing him the view of a waterpark, the Paphos court was told last month.
He had arrived at the hotel early on July 12 with his wife, their son, their five-year-old daughter and his parents-in-law.
After drinking by the pool that afternoon, he returned to the room before taking his son and father-in-law to the lift to meet the rest of the family for dinner.
Believing there was ‘protective glass’ on the window, Foster briefly placed his son on the windowsill ‘to see the view’. Judge Froso Christodoulidou told him that decision would leave him ‘facing his guilt for the rest of his life’.
She described the conduct as reckless but said it had been an ‘innocent mistake’. The court heard there were no clear markings indicating that the window was open.
Foster had consumed alcohol earlier in the day, but the court heard it did not contribute to the accident.
Judge Christodoulidou had previously said she would not impose a prison sentence because of Foster’s ‘personal situation and character’. The maximum fine available to her was €5,000.
The grieving father ‘co-operated immediately’ with the authorities and had no previous criminal record. The case had also caused ‘lots of harm to his family’.
Foster’s lawyer Alexandros Alexandrou (pictured) criticised prosecutors for pursuing the case
The judge also said Foster’s career would be affected. He is facing a UK tribunal over the case, which could result in him being struck off.
‘It is no exaggeration to say that for the rest of his life he will feel guilt for losing his child in such a tragic way,’ she said.
After the hearing, Foster’s lawyer, Alexandros Alexandrou, criticised prosecutors for continuing with the case.
Foster had been held without charge for eight days, a decision described by the Cypriot press as the ‘cruellest act’. He was also forced to tell his young daughter that her brother had died during a FaceTime call from behind bars.
‘This case should not have gone to court. We initially asked for the case to be suspended, but unfortunately that was not accepted,’ Mr Alexandrou said, describing Foster as an ‘extraordinary man, an extraordinary father, and a very good husband.’
He added: ‘This isolated, unintended incident had devastating and unimaginable consequences. Nothing about today’s outcome changes the profound loss this family has suffered.’
When the Daily Mail visited the hotel several days after the accident, the large fourth-floor window was still open.
UK health and safety guidance states that hotel windows large enough for children to fall through should be restricted to an opening of 4in or less.
In Cyprus, however, the window must be positioned above a ledge at least 3.5ft high, a requirement the King Evelthon met.
After the sentencing, a spokesman for the Foster family said: ‘Today marks the end of the legal proceedings in Cyprus, and we are grateful to the court and Judge Christodoulidou for her decision to apply the maximum mitigation available to her.
‘We are relieved that this process is now over, but for our family, the consequences of this tragedy will never end.
‘Our son was deeply loved and will be missed forever. His loss is something we carry with us every day.
‘Our focus now is on supporting one another and finding a way forward as a family. We ask that our privacy is respected as we do so.’
The resort’s safety record has come under scrutiny after it emerged that the child was the third British tourist to die there in four years.
Ben Woods, 21, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, drowned while playing volleyball in the hotel’s pool in July 2022.
The following year, six-year-old Ruaridh Nairne, from Inverness, also drowned. Another woman reportedly died while swimming at the resort in 2024.