THE teen brother of an X Factor star drowned in a filthy hotel pool filled with condoms during a party in which nobody noticed his body in the water, a court has heard.
Savvakis Georgiou Alexandrou, 18, died after slipping and falling into the water at the Kalypso hotel in Ayia Napa, Cyprus in August 2014.
A court heard how there were no lifeguards on duty and drinking alcohol was encouraged by the hotel on the day of the tragedy.
A father and son, who have not been named, who reportedly own the hotel have been jailed for four and three months respectively as a result of his the Brit’s death.
Savvakis was on the books at League Two football club Stevenage FC and was the step-brother Monica Michael – who appeared on the X Factor a week after he died.
Monica, who was eliminated in week three of series 11, paid tribute to her step-brother on the show – who had attended her audition before his death.
She said: “It was really hard to watch the show on Saturday without him and I just hope that he is at peace in heaven.”
The teen was taking part in alcohol-fuelled late-night party when he died, according to local media.
Despite more than a dozen people being around the pool, nobody noticed what had happened to him until a female swimmer tripped over his body the following morning, it has been reported.
At the time the swimming pool was described as being green from algae and littered with rubbish that included syringes, condoms and cigarette butts while Savvakis’ body was lying at the bottom.
The British teenager had travelled to the party hotspot with his cousin after they had visited their grandparents in nearby Protaras which was just a few miles away.
They had booked into another hotel before moving to the Kalypso where the teen drowned.
In a heartbreaking tribute, his girlfriend Mercedes Cole said: “All I am able to say is I had the world’s best boyfriend and would do absolutely anything to be back in his arms MY beautiful angel.”
An autopsy confirmed that the victim had drowned and that alcohol use was a contributing factor.
The court added that signs around the complex warning of the risk of drinking were an “oxymoron as the people the signs were addressing had a diminished perception of the risk because of the consumption of alcohol.”
Prosecutors also likened the signs to a “fig leaf” and not a proper safety measure.
The courts said: “[The] use of the pool in the early morning hours was not only open to people who had previously consumed alcohol, but was effectively encouraged, from what was shown, as part of a package combining alcohol consumption and the pool’s operation.”
According to local media, partygoers ended up in the swimming pool in the early hours of the morning after leaving the town’s nightclubs.
However, although the facility’s poolside bar was open and selling alcohol to guests, no lifeguards were on duty, according to reports.
The court said: “The defendants had created a dangerous situation due to the operation of a pool that was not tended by a lifeguard, in combination with the operation of an adjacent bar serving alcoholic drinks without the necessary safeguards for the participants.”
These oversights caused the death of the 18-year-old Brit, the court ruled.
The father and son, who reportedly own the hotel, have been jailed for four and three months respectively while the company they ran was also fined £1,680, according to local media.
They have not been named but who were aged 63 and 33 at the time.
