‘Spoiled rich kid’ slurs against Briton killed by helicopter blades must stop, says sister

A British holidaymaker had never flown in a helicopter before he was fatally injured by a rotor blade in Greece, his sister has claimed as she hit back at claims he was an “obnoxious wealthy kid”.

Jack Fenton, 22, was killed instantly when he walked into the spinning tail blade as he disembarked a Bell 407 helicopter that had flown him and three friends from Mykonos to Spata, near Athens International Airport.

The group had been on a trip to the holiday island to celebrate Mr Fenton’s birthday and had been due to return home to the UK on Monday night when the accident happened.

Greek authorities provoked fury on Tuesday by publicly claiming Mr Fenton had been killed after running back in the direction of the helicopter with his phone to his ear, ignoring warnings from the ground crew.

Athens accident investigation chief Ioannis Kondylis said: "From the testimonies we have collected, it does not appear from anywhere that the young man wanted to take a selfie.

“What is reported is that the 22-year-old was holding a mobile phone and had it to his ear, but it has not yet been clarified whether he was talking.”

On Wednesday, Mr Fenton’s sister, Daisy, told The Telegraph she wanted to set the record straight after seeing a slew of inaccurate stories about her brother.

She said: “None of these stories are true, it’s so foul. We don’t come from a really wealthy background. It was his first time in a helicopter on a holiday with friends. His family and me are all here in the UK. We were told by the police.

“He did not run round the back to take a selfie. No one knows why. It was dark, he was told nothing that he couldn’t go round the back. The pilots have no protocol. They also told them they could get out with the propellers still running.”

She added that her brother deserved to have “these fake stories of him being an obnoxious wealthy kid with his family taking selfies with helicopters” challenged.

“I just want to get the truth out that the pilots were completely unprofessional and Jack, as a first-timer on a helicopter, needed the guidance they should have given,” she continued.

Mr Fenton, from Kent, was a junior account executive at a social media marketing firm and a graduate of Oxford Brookes University. He also attended the Sutton Valence School in Maidstone where he was remembered as a “very popular” pupil, according to James Thomas, the headmaster.

The helicopter’s pilot and two other people were arrested on Tuesday by Greek police, according to state media. They were later released.