A North-East family spoke of their anger and disbelief last night after three Greek doctors convicted of their son's manslaughter were cleared without spending a day in jail.

The distraught family of 24-year-old Christopher Rochester were left in tears after three appeal judges quashed the convictions with nothing more than the flick of a sheet of paper at the end of an emotionally-charged hearing.

The ruling sparked an immediate call by the family's MP for a tourist boycott of the sunshine island.

Christopher, of Chester-le-Street, County Durham, died at the island's Andreas Papandreou Hospital in June 2000, after he fell from a balcony in the town of Faliraki. and the three doctors were later convicted of manslaughter by neglect at an emotional hearing at the town's court house in 2003.

The doctors, Stergios Pavlidis, Georgos Karavolias and Mihalis Sokorelos, were sentenced to three years in jail, suspended pending an appeal.

Today, after a two-day hearing, the judges conferred behind a sheet of paper and simply said the appeal was upheld, before calling another case to hear.

The family were unaware of the ruling for a short spell until it was explained to them what had happened while across the courtroom celebrations had started by one doctor and his family.

Another case was being started before the Rochester family had time to leave the courtroom, without the judges having even risen from the bench or paused between cases.

Christopher's tearful mother Pam, 47, said: ''The verdict is unbelievable.

''It was totally cold and heartless the way it was delivered without any respect or compassion for the family.

''It is absolutely disgusting that these doctors can be cleared.''

Christopher's brother Keith, 30, added: ''I feel totally let down and have absolutely no faith whatsoever in the Greek legal system.

''It's disgraceful. The doctors were convicted in 2003, and even with extra evidence against them presented to the appeal, they have been acquitted.

''It is beyond belief and there's got to be something more to what happened in that courtroom.''

The family's Greek lawyer, Sotirios Manolkidis, said he was staggered at the verdict.

He said: ''I cannot comment on the judicial decision until I have seen a written judgment and only then can I make an informed decision on whether there are grounds for an appeal.

''However, I'm shocked at the way the court delivered the verdict.

''It's shocking the decision of the court can be made in five minutes on the bench without the judges leaving the room.

''The first hearing deliberated for more than four hours before returning the opposite verdict.

''I would never have thought this would be the outcome today.''

North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones, who has championed the Rochester family's cause for almost five years, said it was a tragedy of massive proportions that the doctors were cleared.

Mr Jones, who attended the appeal, said: ''What happened in that court was scandalous.

''The evidence was stacked against the doctors and serious questions now need to be asked.

''This is a tragedy of great proportions in the widest possible sense.

''I would personally recommend that nobody comes here as this sends a message out to British tourists not to travel to Rhodes.

''They will not be safe and cannot be guaranteed their safety in hospital and there must be serious concerns about the legal system.

''They cannot have confidence in the medical provision whatsoever and in terms of legal redress, in what is a fellow EU country, they clearly cannot get that either if things go wrong.''

Those sentiments were backed by Christopher's devastated stepfather George Cummings, who said: ''Something is rotten about this whole case, it's corrupt.

''The family's advice to anyone who has booked a holiday here is to cancel it.

''If they have paid a deposit they should give up on it as the price of that deposit could save their lives.

''If anyone was unfortunate enough to be dependant on these doctors they would be returning home in a coffin, like Chris did.''

A spokesman for Rhodes Tourism said: ''Tourists can be absolutely confident that they can expect a high standard of medical care should they be taken ill or have any kind of accident while on holiday here.

''Everyone in the tourist industry greatly regrets this incident but it should be remembered that it happened five years ago and since then new management has taken over the running of the hospital and reviewed procedures.

''We are confident that our medical services are equivalent to those of any major European city.''