3 days ago
Brit dad, 32, found dead hours after being escorted off flight & separated from family on Turkey hols
A BRIT dad was found dead from a fall in Turkey just hours after being escorted off a plane for being drunk.
Builder Ben Crook from Caerphilly, South Wales had been in Antalya with his partner and two kids to celebrate his 32nd birthday.
4
4
4
Crook, who was a nervous flyer, had been drinking on the way to Bristol Airport and had taken cocaine.
When their flight was delayed, he drank even more alcohol at the airport.
But once they were on the plane, Crook began behaving erratically, an inquest heard.
He shouted at an air steward who refused to serve him more alcohol and had a row with his partner in which he smashed both their phones.
Crook was escorted off the flight and separated from his family upon landing in Turkey.
His partner Jess Jenkins was advised to take their kids to the hotel and wait for his arrival.
But Ben never made it to the hotel, the inquest at Gwent Coroner's Court heard.
He was last seen in Kaleiçi, Antalya's old town district, and was found the next day in the Selçuk area.
After she raised the alarm over Ben's disappearance, Jess received a message from a woman who had spotted him.
It read: "He said he smashed up his phone and had brought a new one but it was not ringing for some reason.
"He used my phone to send a message to his friend and we gave him our number if he needed more help.
"He looked shaken and hungover.
"After the Facebook message and ringing his friend, he crossed the harbour and walked, we presumed, to the police station for help."
Ben was discovered lying on rocky ground at the bottom of a tall building.
He died at Antalya Training and Research Hospital at 2.15am on September 25.
Ben's dad flew out to Turkey upon hearing his son was missing, but found out the tragic news upon his arrival.
He had been messaged by Ben to ask for the name of the hotel they were staying at on Facebook Messenger, but it had ended up in the spam folder.
A post mortem examination conducted in Turkey found that Ben died with injuries in keeping with a fall.
A further examination in the UK determined his cause of head was a fractured skull and pelvis caused by blunt trauma from the fall.
The court heard that he may have fallen while he was smoking.
Gwent coroner Caroline Saunders said that drugs and alcohol "may have caused disorientation and poor judgement".
But she added "this is insufficient to determine he fell as a result of the drugs he had taken."
She said: "I find the fall was an accident, the exact details of which are unknown.
"On September 24, 2024, Ben Crook fell from height whilst on holiday in Turkey and sustained severe head and pelvic injuries and died on September 25, 2024.
"The conclusion I reach is that of an accident."
4
