Kirsty Maxwell in a '˜state of terror' when she died, court hears

Kirsty Maxwell with husband Adam Maxwell. Picture: Contributed

The family’s lawyer described to the Spanish judge how Kirsty’s actions were comparable to someone trying to escape a burning building, falling from the tenth-floor of the apartment complex while she was on a hen weekend in the Spanish resort.

Four men appeared at Palau de Justicia in Benidorm on Wednesday, where they faced questions about the 27-year-old’s death.

The quartet were summoned to Spain where they were quizzed by a Spanish judge. It was their apartment in the Apartmentos Payma which Kirsty, from Livingston, West Lothian, fell from on 29 April.

A fifth man was also present in the apartment when Kirsty died. He was arrested by police and held for 48 hours following Kirsty’s death before being released on bail and granted a return to the UK.

Parts of the police report were read to the judge by Luis Miguel Zumaquero, the family’s lawyer, highlighting the distress Kirsty found herself in prior to her death, as she tried to escape the men.

He read: “This is a desperate measure, as a result of a state of terror comparable to what happens to a person who jumps into the abyss from a building during a fire.”

Mr Zumaquero’s request that the men be held in custody was dismissed by the judge with the four men leaving the court hiding their faces and not making a comment.

Mr Zumaquero said: “The men were called today to the court to clear all the contradictions in their stories and they did not.

“They had a great opportunity to prove their innocence today however they did not do that. We think this is a declaration of their guilt.”