New TV probe into death at Hucknall men's holiday apartment

A new TV documentary investigates the death of a woman at the Benidorm apartment where five Hucknall men were on holiday.
Retired detective David Swindle, who launched a fresh investigation into the case for the TV documentary. (PHOTO BY: BBC Scotland/STV).Retired detective David Swindle, who launched a fresh investigation into the case for the TV documentary. (PHOTO BY: BBC Scotland/STV).
Retired detective David Swindle, who launched a fresh investigation into the case for the TV documentary. (PHOTO BY: BBC Scotland/STV).

It follows retired detective David Swindle looking into the fatal fall from the tenth-floor balcony of the apartment by Kirsty Maxwell, 27, of West Lothian in Scotland.

A Spanish judge says she is close to ruling that Kirsty’s death, in April 2017, was an accident. And the five Hucknall men, Callum Northridge, 30, Ricky Gammon, 32, Anthony Holehouse, 34, Daniel Bailey, 32, and Joseph Graham, all strenuously deny having any responsibility.

However, her grief-stricken family are still desperate for answers and feel they have been abandoned by the authorities. So the one-hour documentary, entitled ‘Killed Abroad’, shows Swindle aiming to gather new evidence.

Drawing on his 34 years of police experience, across hundreds of murder enquiries, he visits Benidorm in a bid to revive public interest in the case and tries to shed new light on the death. He also interviews heartbroken relatives, who open up about their loss.

Kirsty was on a hen-party holiday at the time. After returning home on the first night out, Kirsty fell asleep. But then she woke up and left her room.

She ended up in the apartment of the Hucknall men, whom she had never met before, and fell from a window to her death.

The men were subsequently interviewed by police, and four of them later appeared voluntarily in court, where a judge allowed them to be released and to return to Britain. No charges have been brought against them.

They released a statement which said: “This was a tragic accident, and we categorically deny an involvement. It goes without saying that our deepest sympathy goes out to Kirsty’s family, and our thoughts are with them.”

Lawyers for Kirsty’s husband, Adam, have demanded that the Hucknall men return to Spain to stand trial. But Roberto Sanchez, representing the men, said: “Their police statements show they were in a different part of the apartment when Kirsty fell, and they didn’t see anything. They have nothing to hide.”

The documentary was made for BBC Scotland and can be seen on the BBC iplayer later this year.