BENIDORM BALCONY DEATH: Kirsty Maxwell’s family `feel abandoned´ by UK and Spain

THE grieving family of Kirsty Maxell say they have felt “lost, confused and abandoned” since her death when she plunged from the tenth floor of an apartment complex in Benidorm on the Costa Blanca in April last year.

The family has criticised the police in Spain for the way they have since handled the investigation.

They repeatedly asked the Spanish authorities what happened to the pink t-shirt and denim skirt the 27-year-old was wearing on the night of her death.

But husband Adam recently revealed the shocking news that the clothes had been ‘thrown out’ without proper DNA testing by the police in Spain that could have provided clues.

“We cannot accept the way they have treated Kirsty’s death.

“They have not respected Kirsty.”

Now the SNP’s Hannah Bardell has taken up the case called for better support from the Foreign Office following the deaths of British nationals abroad in suspicious circumstances.

She told MPs in the House of Commons how constituent Kirsty entered a room occupied by a group of English men who were “high on drugs and alcohol” before she met her death.

Ms Bardell said Kirsty’s parents Brian and Denise – and husband Adam – had provided a few words about what they had encountered.

The Commons heard them say, “Mentally, emotionally and physically this has been extremely tough and still with no real end in sight.

“When Kirsty was brutally taken from us, they took a part of us all – something we will never regain.

“Kirsty was visiting an EU country as a British citizen. She lived by the rules set out in today’s society, she worked every day, paid her taxes and never called on the system for any assistance.

“We now plead for that assistance, plead for justice to be sought, plead for her country not to desert her and her family in their hour of need.

“She needs this help more than ever, needs more than lip-service to be done, needs more support for Scottish and UK families who lose a loved one abroad in suspicious circumstances.

“The past ten months as a family we’ve felt lost, confused and abandoned.

“Lost at the lack of direction and compassion we were shown by the authorities; confused by the revolving door of dysfunctional protocol and procedures which are not in place, displaced and misunderstood; and abandoned by a legal system not understood, not relevant and not fit for purpose of protecting victims of suspicious deaths and murders abroad.

“This and trying to grieve while fighting a case through the Spanish courts with no assistance financially, legally or morally from either the UK or Spain.”

Ms Bardell added, “What can we say to those families, our constituents, other than we need to resolve right here, right now, that we cannot and will not let any more families down.”

Replying for the Government, Foreign Office Minister Harriett Baldwin offered her sympathies to those who had lost loved ones abroad and said that a network of 772 consular staff were always on hand to offer support.

She said, “The death of a loved one is devastating wherever it happens but particularity when it happens in another country and where suspicious circumstances are apparent.

“We know that families are often desperate to find answers, in these cases and indeed whenever a British national dies overseas the consular staff support those bereaved families with what I believe is compassion, dedication and tenacity.”

However, she added that the UK could not “interfere in local process” when there had been a death.
She said, “We do emphasise that we can’t interfere in local process and we would not want to see that kind of interference in our own.”

The Government say almost 4,000 Brits died abroad last year, with around 74 of those cases being deemed murder or manslaughter.

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@HannahB4LiviMP you continue to represent Kirsty and my family with the upmost respect and compassion. Tonight was no different, the speech you gave in the House of Commons was an exact and true representation of the farcical situation we find ourselves in #KirstyMaxwell

— Adam (@maxwellA89) February 28, 2018