TWO British brothers who are planning to sue Greek police for brutality flew home last night after their family was threatened.
Frederick and Christian Johnson had been filing papers in a Greek court claiming that they were beaten after being arrested for assaulting a shop owner on Saturday night when their grandmother received a threatening telephone call. She told embassy officials a Greek man said that her family were in danger.
The two sons arranged to leave the country, and were escorted to the airport by embassy officials. Their mother and grandparents, who live in Greece, are planning to stay.
On Wednesday Christian, 22, and Frederick, 18, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were jailed for a year after being convicted of grievous bodily harm. Their mother, Vera Johnson, 45, was jailed for three months for using abusive language in the fracas with a Greek shopowner, but she was allowed to “buy off” her sentence for £600.
Christian, who recently graduated in French and history from Edinburgh University, and Frederick, who is hoping to study archaeology at Newcastle University, were freed after lodging appeals against their sentences. Their appeal will be heard in about a year.