A Spanish prosecutor has concluded the death of a young West Lothian woman who died after falling from a balcony in Benidorm was an accident.
But Kirsty Maxwell’s family say they’ve been robbed of justice after a “farcical” Spanish police investigation into her death.
Brian and Denise Curry are outraged that a Spanish prosecutor has now concluded their daughter was the victim of an accident when she fell to her death from a balcony in Benidorm.
The 27 year old, from Livingston died on Saturday, April 29 2017, after plunging from the tenth floor of the Apartamentos Payma hotel at 7.51am, less than 12 hours after arriving for a hen party with 19 women.
She had mistakenly entered an apartment which was occupied by five men from Nottingham celebrating a 50th birthday.
Her family believe a “catalogue of errors” and missed opportunities in the investigation mean they may now never know the circumstances leading to her death.
Brian said: “The police investigation was farcical from the start and the sheer incompetence left us angry and frustrated.
“We felt we couldn’t publicly criticise because the police officers had fragile egos and it would just make them defensive. We wanted their co-operation to get to the truth.
“There was a hope there that if we were nice to them, they would help us.
“In the long run we now know that approach hasn’t worked and we won’t bite our tongues anymore.
“The Spanish police and judiciary have acted in a way that has been demeaning not just to us but to Kirsty. It is disgusting. We have felt physically sick over the way this investigation has been handled.”
After checking in to the hotel at 9.15pm, some of the hen party headed out into Benidorm, Kirsty and two friends were captured on CCTV returning to the apartments at 5.35am.
A short time later she went to sleep in their apartment on the ninth floor, and a friend filmed her on her mobile phone at 6.50am because she was snoring.
It is not known why she left the room and travelled up to the 10th floor, but some of the hen party was staying there in apartment 10D.
She had no history of sleepwalking. At some point she entered apartment 10E, occupied by the men.
The family, who say they were never notified the investigation was closed, say police limited their inquiries to the day Kirsty died and say a judge, who by protocol leads criminal investigations in Spain, failed to pursue the case and leads they supplied.
In May 2017, the family hired David Swindle, of Justice Abroad, a Scottish former CID detective with 34 years investigating murders, including the crimes of serial killer Peter Tobin.
Brian said:“We had to carry on the investigation because no one else was. As far as the police were concerned they did their job on that day and that was enough. It didn’t matter how much information David and his team passed on to them, they weren’t interested.”
Now a prosecutor has officially concluded on the basis of the evidence that Kirsty entered the apartment “voluntarily”, was drunk and disorientated and fell over the balcony.
But Brian said: “This does the men and Kirsty a complete disservice because it is based on an inept investigation. We have never accused these men of any wrong doing and for them as much as us, it was important that every line of inquiry was followed and heard in a court.
“We are so angry. People talk about closure, but there is never going to be closure. Without the truth, everything is so much worse for everyone. All we are left with is anger and pain.”
