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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Gerard Couzens & Jon Brady & Kathleen Speirs

Spanish cops confirm Scots woman's hotel balcony fall death not being treated as suspicious

Spanish police probing the hotel plunge death of Marie Riley have confirmed they're not treating it as suspicious.

The 37-year-old from Paisley, Renfrewshire died after falling from a balcony of a room at the Sol Pelicanos Ocas in Benidorm, Spain on Monday.

The holiday hotel is the Solana resort in the long-running ITV sitcom Benidorm.

A probe by Spain’s National Police force is ongoing although officers are already understood to have submitted a preliminary report to an investigating judge leading a routine inquiry.

But they said on Saturday there was nothing at this stage pointing to the death being in any way suspicious.

We told how eyewitness Jane Lloyd was staying in the same hotel where Marie lost her life.

Jane said she has been left shaken and unable to stop thinking about the incident.

She told the Record how she and friend Stuart Bell had been sitting on the balcony of his eighth-floor room when tragedy struck.

Marie Riley (UGC)

Jane, 54, from Plymouth, said: "I was sitting with my chair to the back of the balcony and my friend Stu was sitting facing it.

"I said 'What was that?' and I saw something just out the corner of my eye and I flinched.

"Stu shouted 'Oh my god, that was a person' and he just lost it. It all happened so quick.

"I was in denial but he insisted: 'It was, it was, it was.'

"He said there was a woman dead on the floor.

"I just didn't believe him.

"He ran down to the reception to tell them and I edged my way onto the balcony to look."

Jane's worst fears were realised when she looked over the balcony as Stuart sprinted down flights of stairs to the reception to notify hotel staff of the tragedy.

She added: "Even then, I didn't believe it was true.

"I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

"It must be awful for her poor wife. I can't imagine what she's going through."

A spokesman for the force in Alicante said: “The death of a British woman in Benidorm on Monday is still under investigation.

“But there is nothing at this stage to suggest it was in any way suspicious.”

Representatives for hotel chain Melia, which operates the Sol Pelicanos Orcas failed to respond to multiple enquiries.

Staff at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) say they are continuing to support Marie's family.

A spokesperson told the Record: "We are assisting the family of a British woman following an incident in Benidorm and in contact with the Spanish authorities."

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