17-yr-old schoolgirl fell 90ft while trying to climb into teenage boy's bedroom

A private schoolgirl died after falling 90ft down an air shaft while trying to visit a fellow holidaymaker’s apartment on a trip to Majorca.

Grace Ford, 17, was celebrating finishing her A-levels when she met 18-year-old Edward Soppet during a night out in Magaluf. They planned to return to his room, but the building’s porter said no visitors were allowed. Instead, Mr Soppet apparently helped Grace climb through a window which they thought led to reception – but it opened into an air shaft. She fell 90ft to an internal patio at a lower level of the hotel, breaking both legs and her pelvis, while her friend –  not realising why she had vanished – went to his room alone and fell asleep.

He was arrested after the seriously injured girl was found at the bottom of the shaft, but released without charge. Grace was put in a medically induced coma at Palma Hospital with parents Chris and Suzanne at her bedside, but she died 12 days later after suffering an infection. Full details of the accident in July last year emerged at an inquest this week, after which a family friend described her death as a ‘waste’.

Grace, a former pupil at £8,500-a-year Kirkham Grammar School in Lancashire and a keen horserider and athlete, met Mr Soppet, a promising schoolboy rugby player, on July 17 and returned to the Torrenova apartment block where he was staying at about 5.30am. The hearing in Blackpool was told it had a strict no entry policy for non-guests. So when Grace, from Greenhalgh, near Kirkham, was turned away by the night  porter, the pair found a window which they believed led to the reception.

But it opened into a dark shaft which dropped to an indoor patio area, and Grace fell six storeys, suffering catastrophic fractures to her legs and pelvis as well as internal bleeding.
A consultant pathologist gave Grace’s cause of death as complications due to multiple injuries due to the fall.

Blackpool coroner Anne Hind recorded a verdict of accidental death, adding: ‘She was 17 years old, which is one of the most heartbreaking aspects of all. ‘Her short life has ended because of this terrible thing. All this promise she had of  a wonderful life was brought  to an end.’

Police with Edward Soppet, who was later released after telling a judge he was unaware Grace had fallen

After the hearing, Steven Hall, a close friend of Grace’s family who flew out to Majorca to support her parents, said: ‘She was a stunning girl in every aspect. She was a straight-A student and a wonderful athlete. Everything she did was to be the best. She never did anything by half. It’s just a waste.’ 

Mr Soppet, who is known as Ted, was not asked to give evidence at the inquest. Now 19, he is believed to have finished his A-levels at £27,000-a-year Bloxham School in Banbury and started university. Last night, his father Allan said he believed the ‘extremely sad’ accident was down to the amount of alcohol which had been consumed on the night. Mr Soppet, of Bladon, Oxfordshire, added: ‘The death and all that followed hit Edward very hard and it has taken him, and us, a long time to get over.’