Tourist fell to his death after call claiming Mafia was chasing him
8
JACK MCGREGOR
Edinburgh, later jumped out of a window at the medical centre and as a result was moved 164 miles to Mugla Sitki University Hospital in Izmir.
But he was seen to fall again from a window sill at Izmir hospital while staff were treating another patient in the same room.
He died two days later. Tests showed he had no traces of drugs or alcohol in his system.
The hearing in Manchester was told the incident occurred in 2015 while Mr Wallace – who worked for Edinburgh City Council and described as a “pleasant, polite, well mannered man” – was thought to be holidaying alone in Turkey.
His father William
Wallace, from Dundee, said: “We believe he went to Turkey on his own, although we have since heard that he might have been with someone, but nobody has been able to confirm this.
“We could call Billy once every two months or sometimes more. He was always busy and we would be the ones contacting him. We saw him quite recently before he went away and he was his usual, happy self.
“He had an episode of depression in 2002 and a problem with alcohol in 2006, but nothing since then.
“On September 29, 2015, I received a phone call from Billy and he said he had got himself in a bit of trouble. He mentioned there was someone after him and he mentioned the Mafia. He said he had got a taxi to go to the airport but it went the wrong way and so he jumped out.
“He said he was going to destroy his passport and when we picked it up after his death it was very damaged.”
A report from the hospital in Izmir said that Billy was sharing a room with another patient. It claimed the patient was being seen by doctors when Billy was spotted standing on the window sill. Someone shouted ‘stop, don’t do it, don’t jump’ but the report said he let himself fall.
Recording an open conclusion, Coroner Nigel Meadows said: “How he came to be in this position is not clear.
“Your son died in the most unusual circumstances and understandably you want to get to the bottom of it.”