COCAINE BINGE OF MAN IN KIRSTY PLUNGE COP QUIZ
Cops believe Brit swore at Scots bride, leaving her terrified But judge finds no evidence men in room played part in tragedy
THE Briton detained over Scots bride Kirsty Maxwell’s fatal plunge from a 10th-floor balcony in Benidorm was high on cocaine at the time, a police report has revealed. Joseph Graham was freed without charge.
A BRITISH man detained over Kirsty Maxwell’s fatal plunge from a Benidorm balcony had taken so much cocaine his nose was bleeding.
Police took Joseph Graham to a doctor in case the bleed was linked to the Scots hen party guest’s fall from a 10th-floor apartment full of male strangers.
But it turned out his nose was “red raw” because of the “large amount of cocaine” he had consumed. He and four male friends were in the flat when Kirsty, 27, walked in by mistake.
The revelation is part of a 39-page police report into Kirsty’s death on April 29. It suggests she panicked and jumped after Graham swore at her – and puts him at the spot where she fell.
The report says: “A Marlboro Gold cigarette was found on the floor in front of the open sliding door window where Kirsty plunged into the abyss.
“The only person with that brand of tobacco in the apartment is the detainee Joseph Fitzroy Graham.
“This situates him in the place Kirsty plunged from, and in a state of nervousness that would lead to him dropping a cigarette he hadn’t yet smoked.”
The police report says Graham, 32, was drunk as well as under the influence of cocaine. They believe he “probably said something obscene to Kirsty and/or approached her in a way which made her feel seriously intimidated”.
Kirsty died just seven months after her wedding to husband Adam. He and her parents have fought ever since for answers about the tragedy, and Adam has spoken of his belief that “something dark” happened in the men’s flat.
Graham, who earns £49,000 a year working for Amazon, was staying in Apartment 10A of the Apartamentos Payma block in an area of Benidorm known as Little England.
But the report says he told police he was in another apartment, 10E, when Kirsty, from Livingston, appeared unexpectedly. It says: “He told police the woman, who he didn’t know, came in through the open door.
“He said she went into the bathroom and tried to get out through a small window before heading along a corridor to a room at the end of the kitchen and finally jumping where the sliding door is.
“Moments later, the police ask him again about what’s happened.
“He changes his version of events, saying he was in 10A when someone knocked on the door and he opened it to see the woman running along the corridor to the apartment and going in.
“After moving through the apartment in the same way as in his previous
version, she plunged to her death.”
The report claims that Graham was once “accused of rape after his DNA was found on a woman who claimed to have been raped”.
It adds that “during his transfer” to the police station after Kirsty’s fatal fall, he “stated repeatedly that she was attractive”.
Graham was detained and questioned by an investigating judge in the case on May 1.
He was then allowed to return to Britain without charge. He is waiting to hear if he will be prosecuted but insists he is innocent.
The other men in the apartment that night were Ricky Gammon, 31, Anthony Holehouse, 34, Callum Northridge, 27, and Daniel Bailey, 32, all from Nottingham. They were questioned by the judge on Wednesday this week after a lawyer for Kirsty’s family applied to have them placed under investigation alongside Graham.
All four men told judge Ana Isabel Garcia-Galbis they had done nothing wrong. None of them said anything to incriminate Graham.
Bailey said he heard him shout, “There’s a girl in the bathroom!” and “Leave this room!” He said he then heard him saying: “F***! She’s jumped!”
The family’s lawyer Luis Miguel Zumaquero tried unsuccessfully to persuade the judge to remand the men in custody ahead of a possible trial for manslaughter.
He referred to the conclusion of the police report – that Kirsty found herself alone in an apartment with five male strangers and took the “only escape route” she could see, which was the partly open sliding door to the tiny, shallow balcony.
The report notes that the balcony is above a pool, and says: “She could have thought that if she jumped she would fall into the water.”
Apartment 10E was next to and directly above the flats where some of the 21 female friends Kirsty flew to Spain with were staying.
The police report says: “We believe she left her apartment, 9A, dressed but barefoot, with the intention of entering the apartment of a female friend to ask her for medicine because she felt unwell, or simply to see one of her friends.”
The report says Kirsty had been drinking heavily before the tragedy. She and her friends went out to their hen do wearing pink tops with the slogan: “So we’re getting drunk.”
The police found Kirsty had 10 strong, spirit-based drinks and had to leave early because she felt ill. She arrived back at the block at 4.35am.
She was found dead beside the pool having narrowly missed the water. She had a white band round her wrist with “bridesmaid” on it.
Tests showed Kirsty was more than five-and-a-half times the Spanish drink-drive limit, but the report confirms she had taken no drugs.
Zumaquero said he was disappointed at the judge’s decision to release Graham’s friends but the “fight for justice” would continue.
He noted that the four Britons had refused to answer his questions.
And he went on: “I wanted them remanded in prison because their only link with Spain was that they were here on holiday when Kirsty died.
“How can we be sure they will return voluntarily in the future?”
But the Britons’ lawyer Roberto Sanchez said they had “given the explanations we felt were appropriate”. They had confirmed they were elsewhere in the apartment when Kirsty fell, and saw nothing.
Sanchez added: “My clients have nothing to hide. They came from England voluntarily for this hearing.”
He said no one was disputing the fact that Graham took cocaine or had been drinking before Kirsty walked in.
But he said the evidence about the cigarette did not incriminate him “in any way” and he could simply have been about to smoke it.
Sanchez said police had found Kirsty’s fingerprints on the bathroom window, which supported Graham’s account of what happened. He added that Kirsty had drunk a level of alcohol “which can lead to hallucinations”.
Judge Garcia-Galbis refused to remand the men in custody because there was “no new evidence” they played any part in Kirsty’s death.
Her ruling said the findings about Kirsty’s alcohol level appeared to confirm the police conclusions.
It appeared she was intoxicated when she mistakenly walked into an apartment full of large, strange men, and she panicked and went through the balcony door believing it was her only escape route.
The judge suggested Kirsty then leaned over and jumped, perhaps intending to hit the water.
She said the only injuries on Kirsty’s body were consistent with her fall, and none of the men had any marks on them consistent with a struggle.
Gammon, Northridge, Holehouse and Bailey said in a statement last night: “This was a tragic accident. We categorically deny any involvement.
“It goes without saying that our deepest sympathy goes out to Kirsty’s family. Our thoughts are with them all at this terrible time.
“We have had our names dragged through the mud and will be seeking legal advice. The opinion of the judge is that this was an accident.”
During his transfer, he stated repeatedly that Kirsty was attractive POLICE REPORT