A dad of two from Bolton was in ‘great spirits’ the night before he drowned in a marina during a work holiday. Andrew Wallace, 54, was found dead hours after he disappeared from the bar he had been drinking at with his colleagues.
His company had organised the trip as a thank you to staff for their hard work over that year, an inquest heard. Tragically, Mr Wallace’s body was found submerged in water and tied to the rope on the marina in Benalmadena in Malaga.
He was found dead on 23 November 2019, by a local who had gone to check on his boat.
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During an inquest held at the Bolton Coroners' Court, a colleague of Andrew's, Patrick Waldron, described his shock at hearing what had happened.
He said: “When we had the meal, Andy was in great sprits that night. We left the restaurant to go to the bar. It was quite a large bar and everyone was mooching around doing their own thing.
"It was the most surreal moment of my life watching ambulance going across the harbour and then realising it was for Andy.”
Despite being self employed, Andrew was working on a freelance basis as a project manager for construction company, Westshield. He was invited to the work trip due to the amount of work he had done with the company.
Andrew’s partner Paula Taylor, said he sounded like his normal ‘cheerful self’ on the phone the day before she received the devastating call that his body had been found.
Speaking at the hearing, she said: “He said he had just had been for a nice meal, he had a few drinks and he was going to call me the next day. He just sounded like his normal cheerful self.”
Andy’s body was found shirtless. He still wearing his jeans, trainers and was found with his Tag Heuer watch and his wallet, which had close to £350 inside it.
Spanish police concluded that there was no suspicious circumstances regarding Andy’s death. They recorded that Andy drowned, the inquest heard. However, pathologist Patrick Waugh concluded that the cause of death was 'unascertained'. There were some bruising on his knees and shoulders, injuries that were "broadly in-keeping with their being some sort of movement on the sea bed.”
The pathologist also determined that there was no evidence of bruises caused by physical harm and there was no toxicology report to due to the fact that his body had already been embalmed during post mortem in Spain and his blood was removed.
Senior coroner Timothy Brenan recorded an open verdict. He said this was due to the fact there was not enough evidence to determine how Andy ended up in the water or how long he was submerged for.
Addressing the family, the coroner said: “It’s clear to me that this has had a deep and profound impact to not only his family but to his colleagues also. I am very sorry for your loss and sorry that we met in these circumstances.”
Andrew was described as a family man with a ‘big heart’, who was an avid golfer and ‘petrol head’ due to his love for motor vehicles and Top Gear. A father of two, he had been looking forward to the birth of his granddaughter who was born soon after he passed away.
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