A 37-year-old KPMG executive has avoided a prison sentence after pleading guilty to causing the death of his two-year-old son, who fell from an open hotel window in Cyprus.
Joshua Foster was fined €3,000 by Paphos District Court on Friday, October 16, after Judge Froso Christodoylidou ruled that imprisonment was not appropriate in the circumstances.
The judge described the case as very serious but said there had been no intention to kill the child. She accepted Foster’s guilty plea, conduct and personal circumstances as mitigating factors.
Foster wept as the sentence was delivered before embracing his lawyer. He then walked to his parents at the back of the courtroom, hugged them and said: “We can go home.”
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, he said: “Thank you for your support. I’m just looking forward to going home and being home with my wife and daughter.”
He subsequently left with his parents to collect the documents needed to leave Cyprus.
Judge Says Father Will Carry Guilt for the Rest of His Life
During sentencing, Judge Christodoylidou said Foster would have to live with the consequences of losing his son in such tragic circumstances.
“It is no exaggeration to say for rest of his life he will have guilt for losing his child in tragic way,” she said.
The judge described the outcome as one marked by grief and sadness, adding that no sentence could adequately address the loss of life.
She said Foster’s actions had been reckless because he failed to check whether the hotel window was open or closed before placing the toddler on the windowsill. However, she accepted that he had not realised the window was open and did not appreciate the danger.
The judge said the incident happened during a moment of relaxation and that Foster had no awareness of the risk. She also noted that he cooperated with authorities immediately after the tragedy, had no previous criminal record and had admitted responsibility.
Although she acknowledged the seriousness of the case, she said imprisonment was not appropriate and imposed the €3,000 fine.
How the Toddler Fell From the Fourth-Floor Window
The incident happened on July 12 at the five-star King Evelthon Hotel near Paphos, where Foster was staying with his wife, their two-year-old son, their five-year-old daughter and his parents-in-law.
According to evidence presented at Paphos District Court, Foster had been walking towards the lift with his son and father-in-law when the toddler noticed a water park outside the building.
Foster, an artificial intelligence director at KPMG, reportedly wanted to show his son the view from the fourth floor. He placed the child on a windowsill, believing there was protective glass, but did not realise the window was open.
The toddler slipped from his hands and fell approximately 33 feet onto a veranda below.
Court proceedings heard that Foster saw his son fall, travelled downstairs in the lift and ran towards him. He found the child unconscious and attempted to help him.
The boy’s mother was alerted and rushed to the scene, where she held her son in her arms. Prosecutor Chryso Pergandi told the court that attempts to resuscitate the child were unsuccessful. He had suffered multiple skull fractures.
Alcohol Was Examined During the Investigation
Foster had consumed drinks by the hotel pool earlier that day before returning to his room and later heading towards the lift with his son and father-in-law.
Following his arrest, a blood sample was taken to test for alcohol and drugs. The initial result showed 34 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, described in the report as equivalent to approximately one drink.
Laboratory estimates suggested the level could have been around 124 milligrams per 100 millilitres at the time of the accident, equivalent to approximately four drinks.
However, the judge said alcohol had not played a role in the incident.
Foster’s defence lawyer, Alexandros Alexandrou, told the court there was no witness evidence that his client had been walking while drunk or displaying obvious signs of intoxication.
The lawyer said the presence of alcohol in Foster’s system should be distinguished from whether it caused the accident. He also highlighted Foster’s actions immediately after the fall, including his attempts to revive his son and his cooperation with hotel staff, medical personnel and police.
Defence Says the Family Has Suffered Devastating Consequences
During mitigation, Alexandrou said Foster’s remorse was clear and that the tragedy had severely affected the family.
He described his client as a father, husband and working professional who had suffered the consequences of his actions and would continue to live with the loss.
The lawyer argued that a prison sentence would not provide a meaningful deterrent in a case involving a momentary failure to recognise danger rather than deliberate wrongdoing.
He also told the court that Foster faced possible professional consequences. The executive had been informed that the board of auditors would call him to a disciplinary process, with the possibility that his professional standing could be affected.
Alexandrou said Foster had admitted his guilt and acknowledged the oversight that led to his son’s death.
He also described the impact on Foster’s wife and surviving daughter, saying the family had endured severe emotional trauma.
Foster Was Held in Cyprus Before Entering His Guilty Plea
Foster, who lives in Chelmsford, Essex, was arrested following the incident and initially held on remand for eight days without charge.
After being formally charged, he paid a total of €30,000 in bail and was prohibited from leaving Cyprus. The travel restriction was temporarily lifted on August 5 so he could attend his son’s burial.
His wife and daughter returned to the United Kingdom at the end of July. During his detention, Foster was reportedly forced to tell his five-year-old daughter about her brother’s death over FaceTime.
His guilty plea came after he was informed, on what would have been his son’s third birthday, that Cyprus Attorney General George Savvides had rejected an appeal to discontinue the case.
Alexandrou had previously asked for the prosecution to be dropped on humanitarian grounds, arguing that continuing the criminal proceedings would deepen the family’s trauma and questioning the public interest in pursuing the case.
Foster ultimately pleaded guilty last month to causing his child’s death.
KPMG Career and Business Interests
Foster has worked at KPMG since 2015, after graduating from Loughborough University, where he met his wife. The couple celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary in August.
He is also a keen tennis player and founded Sportch, a tennis competition application, in 2021. The platform is described as a competition app used by approximately 7,000 players across 400 clubs in the United Kingdom.
Foster stepped down as the company’s chief executive early last year, explaining in a blog post that family responsibilities and other commitments meant he needed to ensure his availability did not limit the business’s growth.
His legal case could now have consequences for his professional career, following the disciplinary process outlined by his defence lawyer.
Hotel Safety Questions Following Previous Tourist Deaths
The King Evelthon Hotel’s safety record has also come under scrutiny following the toddler’s death.
The child was reportedly the third British tourist to die at the five-star resort in four years.
Ben Woods, 21, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, drowned while playing volleyball in the hotel’s swimming pool in July 2022. The following year, six-year-old Ruaridh Nairne, from Inverness, also drowned at the resort. A woman was also reported to have died while swimming there in 2024.
A visit to the hotel by the Daily Mail found that the large fourth-floor window involved in the toddler’s fall remained open.
UK health and safety guidance states that hotel windows through which children could fall should be restricted to openings of four inches or less. In Cyprus, the reported requirement is that a window be positioned above a ledge at least 3.5 feet high, a condition the hotel reportedly met.
The case has brought renewed attention to the circumstances of the fatal fall, while Foster’s sentencing has concluded the criminal proceedings against him at Paphos District Court.
