THE family of a woman who died in a mystery plunge from a hotel balcony yesterday vowed to find new evidence as a Spanish judge threatens to close the criminal case into the fatal fall.
Kirsty Maxwell, 27, died a year ago today after falling from the 10th-floor balcony of an apartment in Benidorm, while on a hen trip with friends.
Four of Kirsty’s friends and her aunt, Angela Lees, have travelled to Spain to launch a fresh appeal for witnesses who may have vital evidence.
Five British men are still under investigation over the Livingston woman’s death. However, Spanish judge Ana Isabel Garcia-Galbis is thought to be close to ending her probe with no proof of a crime.
In a legal document signed earlier this week, the judge stated: “To date, no new evidence that allows me to attribute the commission of a specific criminal act to the people under investigation has been obtained.”
The lawmaker made it clear she was only waiting for the results of tests on samples taken from Kirsty’s body to see if they contained any of the men’s DNA “to conclude her investigation.” A source claimed the decision on whether to take the case to trial could be made next month. If the investigation is closed, Kirsty’s family could appeal to a higher court.
Kirsty, who worked for Lloyds Banking Group, died when she fell from apartment 10E at Apartamentos Payma, Benidorm, in the early hours of April 29 last year.
She had gone to bed around 4am but later left her ninth-floor apartment and went to the 10th floor.
She entered an apartment where five men – Joseph Graham, Ricky Gammon, Anthony Holehouse, Callum Northridge and Daniel Bailey – were staying, and shortly afterwards fell from the balcony.
The men, from Nottingham, were questioned by Spanish authorities in the days and months after the tragedy but have denied any involvement with her death.
The Spanish lawyer working on the case for Kirsty’s family resigned last month and they are now seeking new representation from Spanish state lawyers.
Private investigator David Swindle, a former Strathclyde Police officer who is working with the bereaved family, said they had not been informed that the case could be closed.
He said: “Nobody has ever updated the family with any information like that.
“If this is the case, it is shocking as there are so many unanswered questioned and so many lines of inquiry that have not been followed.
“We are going to continue to fight for justice and find the answers her family need.”
In Benidorm yesterday, Angela said: “It is emotional being back here but we need to keep things going. Anybody who was around that morning could have seen or heard something.
“There are that many apartments looking on to where Kirsty was. There were people milling around at that time in the morning when we were out, so there must have been people who saw something.”
Within hours of the fresh appeal launching, Angela said she had already been contacted by a family who were at the same resort last year, and whose son was returning home from a night out around the time Kirsty died.
Kirsty’s husband Adam and parents Denise and Brian Curry have remained in Scotland this weekend to privately mark 12 months since the tragedy.
The decision of family and friends to visit Benidorm comes after a string of court decisions have gone against them.
Requests for a reconstruction in the apartment were turned down by the judge. And a plea to police to launch a new exhaustive search for potential witnesses was also knocked back.
Earlier this year it emerged the pink top and denim skirt Kirsty had been wearing had been thrown away after an autopsy.
Officials from the forensic institute in Alicante where Kirsty’s autopsy took place also admitted the clothes were only examined “with the naked eye” and not a microscope.
Mystery of fatal fall still unsolved
The family of Kirsty Maxwell will remember her today, exactly a year after the 27-year-old fell to her death.
They have been fighting to discover how she fell from the balcony of a 10th-floor apartment after apparently becoming lost.
Five men from England, who were in the apartment, maintain her death was an accident but her family believe she must have been pushed or felt threatened before falling to her death.
Her husband Adam said: “A year on from Kirsty’s death we will be remembering her privately and in our own way but we continue to fight every day to get answers and justice for her.
“There has been little progress but we are grateful for the support we’ve had.”
The five men who were in the flat were named as Joseph Graham, Ricky Gammon, Anthony Holehouse, Callum Northridge and Daniel Bailey – all from the Nottingham area.
Kirsty, who married Adam in September 2016, had travelled to Spain as part of a hen party and had been on a night out.
She went to bed about 4am on April 29 in her ninth-floor apartment.
Mr Graham told police Kirsty was acting as if she was “drunk or drugged” and headed for the bathroom before trying to get through an indoor window and then disappearing from his
view.
Police said at the time they believed Kirsty may have mistaken the apartment for a friend’s flat – and become disorientated from the effects of her night out boozing.
None of the five men have been formally charged.
Mr Graham said shortly after the tragedy: “I am unable to say anything at this time other than I am innocent of any wrongdoing.”
Tributes pour in for holiday flat plunge girl
Friends and colleagues of a teenager who plunged to her death from a Spanish apartment balcony have backed a fund set up to bring her body home.
Natalie Cormack, 19, who was working in a bar in the popular tourist destination of Magaluf, died tragically in the early hours of Friday morning.
The West Kilbride woman is thought to have fallen while attempting to climb to her balcony at the Eden Roc resort after losing her keys.
She had returned home from working in a nearby bar earlier that morning, and had gone to a friend’s apartment before trying to get in to her own flat, according to Spanish police.
Workers in Magaluf set up an online crowdfunding page to support her family and bring her back home.
Within 24 hours, their target of £5,000 had been surpassed as donations from more than 120 people flooded in, including one of £3,000.
One donor wrote: “So, so sad to hear the terrible news about Natalie. What a loss. You were a great girl, always willing to help when asked. A big attitude and an even bigger heart. You shall be missed darling.”
Tributes continued to be paid online, with her dad Eddie posting a picture of his daughter with the words: “Sleep well Princess, love you so much.”
The Seamill House Hotel in West Kilbride, where Natalie used to work as a bartender, issued a statement last night.
It read: “We are so sad to hear the devastating news of a former employee and great friend of Seamill House Hotel, Natalie Cormack.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this terrible time.”
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