IT is a year since the death of newlywed Kirsty Maxwell, who fell from the 10th floor of an apartment block in Benidorm after a night out celebrating a friend’s hen party.
But the mystery that surrounds her final moments continues to haunt those closest to her, with four of her friends returning to the Spanish resort to mark the anniversary at the weekend.
The four women, all from Livingston, West Lothian, were among the 20-strong group in Benidorm last year.
To mark the April 29 anniversary, they spent the weekend handing out flyers and putting up posters, appealing for anyone with information on the 27-year-old’s death to come forward.
READ MORE: Family of woman in fatal Benidorm fall ‘feel lost, confused and abandoned’
Mrs Maxwell, who worked for Lloyds Banking Group, had entered a room at the Apartamentos Payma being used by five men from Nottingham before she fell, with a police report later saying she may have been in a “state of terror” at the time.
Carolynn Burke - whose hen party it was - said her life now feels “empty” without her friend, while Lesley-Anne Watson, 28, said those left behind need to “get answers”.
The last time they saw Mrs Maxwell - who had only married her partner Adam a few months prior to her passing - was when they put her to bed in her own apartment.
Kerry Langton, 27, walked home with her that night.
READ MORE: Family of woman in fatal Benidorm fall appeal to witnesses
It is not known how she woke, left her room and ended up in another apartment on another floor.
She said: “We got home safe. She was in bed safe. That’s the worst thing about all this - we did what we always do, we looked after each other. You think you're in your room, she's tucked up in bed, we were safe.
"There are so many 'what ifs'. But we were as sensible as we could have been and yet something as tragic as this still happened.”
Miss Watson added: “That night, we just had so much fun, having a drink and a dance, taking selfies. It's horrible looking back on them now. You never think that when you're taking those pictures that it'll be the last time you're going to have a picture taken with Kirsty.
"You think this isn't real. It's the strangest feeling ever.”
Reflecting on the events of a year ago, she said she was woken by banging on the room door.
"There were police officers in the corridor,” she said. "I walked round the apartment to the opposite side and looked out the window and Kirsty was just lying at the pool.
"That's something that I never ever thought I'd have to look at or have to see. That image for weeks, if not months, was in my head. Why two hours after it happened she was still lying there, I'll never know. I was in a state of shock.
"We need people to come forward. I'm here for one reason, and that's to get answers. We're a close group and we are together here, even stronger.”
Five men from Nottingham, who were in the room Mrs Maxwell fell from, were questioned by Spanish police, but have not been charged.
READ MORE: Family's anger as they are told Kirsty Maxwell's clothes were destroyed
David Swindle, a former detective assisting Mrs Maxwell’s family, said: "The key to this, to me, is in Nottingham. There were a large group of men from Nottingham here, there were over 50 of them.
"Some of them were in the room with Kirsty before she died, and some were staying at the Payma Apartments.”
Mrs Maxwell’s aunt, Angela Lees, also travelled to Benidorm at the weekend to raise awareness around the anniversary.
She said: ”It's been emotional, but positive, we've put up the posters and we've been speaking to people.
"We just want to find the answers. We're trying to get support from anyone who was here last year to come forward.
"It's quite upsetting to look up and know that's where my niece fell to her death. The void is just so huge in our family. That'll never be filled.”
Outside court in Benidorm last summer, where the British men were probed about Mrs Maxwell’s death, Luis Miguel Zumaquero - the lawyer acting for the family - read from the police report, saying Mrs Maxwell had been trying to “flee” the apartment.
He said, reading the document: “She sees the only escape route is the balcony sliding door. This is a desperate measure, resulting from a state of terror, comparable to what happens to a person who jumps into the abyss from a building during a fire.”
In a legal document signed last week, Spanish judge Ana Isabel Garcia-Galbis said: “To date, no new evidence that allows me to attribute the commission of a specific criminal act to the people under investigation has been obtained.”
But Mrs Maxwell's family say they are still “fighting for justice, truth and answers”.
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