THE family of tragic holidaymaker Christopher Rochester said they had suffered a 'rollercoaster of emotions' during a trial of five medical staff accused of neglecting him in his last hours.

The 24-year-old, of Chester-le-Street, died in Rhodes Hospital, hours after falling from an apartment balcony in June 2000.

Three doctors and two nurses were eventually put on trial charged with manslaughter by neglect after a lengthy campaign by his family. The doctors were last week convicted, while the nurses were cleared.

During last week's case, the family suffered a blow when the prosecutor said he felt the defendants had not been negligent. They feared the medics would be cleared, but last Friday the judge convicted the three doctors - Michael Sokorelos, George Karavolias and Sergios Pavlidis.

Each of the doctors received a three-year jail sentence, suspended pending an appeal.

The case centred around claims that Dr Pavlidis, an intern, could not contact a senior doctor who was sleeping in another part of the hospital, so only transferred Mr Rochester to an orthopaedic ward, where he later died.

It was claimed it took 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and Mr Rochester was 'bounced about' on a stretcher and left on a trolley.

Dr Pavlidis claimed that Mr Rochester was too drunk to co-operate in any treatment.

Mr Rochester's brother, Keith, 29, said: "It's taken three-and-a-half years to get here and in 30 seconds we get the verdicts we wanted. I can't be pleased because Christopher should never have died in the first place. I don't feel we have won anything, but we have seen justice done."

North Durham MP Kevan Jones, who campaigned with the family, said: "The Greek authorities will have to take some action after this."

For the family it has been a long, frustrating and at times traumatic fight for justice.

With the help of Christopher's friends in Chester-le-Street, Mr Rochester's mother and stepfather raised money to take the case to a Greek court.

But it was never as easy as simply raising the thousands of pounds they needed to pay for their legal costs.

For the family twice made trips to Rhodes prepared for the case to go ahead, only for it to be delayed at the last minute.

Another setback occurred when the family was preparing to fly out for the trial and were told at the 11th hour there would be no translator.

But with guilty verdicts against three of the five accused, Christopher's relatives can start rebuilding their shattered lives.

His mother, Pam, said: "It's what we wanted. We have got justice."