Mother devastated after son who died in Tenerife returned to UK without his heart
A British mother was left devastated after she was forced to bury her teenage son without his heart following his death in Tenerife.
Apart from the obvious heartbreak of losing someone so young, there has been a worrying trend emerging in recent years where Brits who die while abroad sometimes have their bodies tampered with in some way.
Young mother Beth Martin died in Turkey before her heart was discovered to be missing in a post-mortem examination, while the family of a British man were told that he had died in mysterious circumstances before realising that his heart was also missing.
The tragic case of Harry Begg saw the 19-year-old reportedly murdered in a targeted hit-and-run on 1 December while holidaying on the Spanish island, with messages from police revealing that it is a crime investigation.
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However, as the Kirkby-based family prepared for an already incredibly difficult funeral, his mother Nicole learned that Spanish authorities had sent his body back to the UK without his heart.
She told the Manchester Evening News: "The Spanish coroner told me that they still had his heart the day before the funeral, and I got really upset. She said she would call me back when I had calmed down, and they still haven’t rang me back.
"There was no need for them to take the heart. He had a healthy heart, and he died of a catastrophic head injury. There was no peace for me at the funeral, no closure."
Harry was travelling on an electric bike in Tenerife when he was allegedly mowed down by a driver, with the teenager suffering catastrophic head injuries and left to die in the road.
Nicola, 50, added: "The biggest part of Harry was his heart. If Harry loved you, he loved you with everything. The biggest part of Harry is stuck in Tenerife, where he was killed; left like a dog to die in the road. We've buried him without it."
Police messages obtained by the ECHO suggest that Harry's heart 'is being preserved pending further testing as the investigation progresses, given that it was a criminal death'.
They added: "Regarding the investigation, we continue to analyse information daily, as we do every day."
However, Nicola suggests that she isn't aware of any investigation taking place and blasted police for making an already horrible situation even more painful.
She concluded: "I haven’t cried properly. Every time I look at a picture of him my head explodes because of the lack of investigation.
"You expect the police to do their job. You expect them to do what they're supposed to do. The Spanish police have told me they have two eye-witness statements, and still nothing.
"This is my baby and they think that just because he’s out of the country now it doesn’t matter. I just want to know who killed him."
LADbible has approached the Spanish Civil Guard, who are conducting the investigation, for comment.
Topics: Crime
James Moorhouse