A GOVILON man fell to his death whilst on holiday in Fuerteventura after he tried to get help for him and his wife when they become locked on their balcony.

John James Curwen Williams, 58, died on March 8, 2008 whilst on a week's holiday at the Stella Dunas resort, Jandia, Fuerteventura with his wife Gaynor, leaving the UK on March 5.

Mrs Williams told an inquest into her husband's death that on the night he died they returned to the second floor room at 11.40pm after dinner where Mr Williams had two to three half pints of lager.

They directly went on to the balcony due to it being very hot, closing the patio door behind them to stop mosquitos from getting into the room. Once the door was closed they realised their error too late as the door could only be opened from the inside.

After their shouts for help were to no avail, Mr Williams decided to climb over the balcony shield to walk along a ledge, with a drop of five metres to the ground, to the end of the block to gain access to the stairwell.

When he did not return after 30 minutes Mrs Williams became concerned and also climbed on to the ledge but was unable to lower herself down into the stairwell so returned to the balcony.

Realising she had her mobile phone, she phone her son, Simon, in England who phoned the hotel in order to get help.

A hotel security guard went to the room and opened the patio door.

Mrs Williams immediately wen in search of her husband who she found lying face down at the foot of the stairwell surrounded by concrete from a first floor balcony.

A postmortem carried out by pathologist Dr Geraint Evans concluded that Mr Williams died on head injured consistent of someone who had fallen.

The court also heard a report from the Canary Island which reiterated Mrs Williams' evidence adding that she didn't see her husband fall and that a doctor arrived at 1.30am, confirming her husband had died.

In her summing up, Gwent Deputy Coroner Wendy James said, "Mr Williams had made it to the end of the ledge to drop into the stairwell but for some reason he lost his footing and some part of his body caught the first floor balcony.

"Why Mr Williams lost his footing no he will know as there were no witnesses, we can only make an assumption.

"We have heard that he was not a man to take a risk, if he did not think it was safe he would not have done it."

Verdict: Accidental death.

A statement issued by the family after the hearing said, "The family of John Williams are glad the inquest is over and there will be some kind of closure to this terrible accident.

"During the days after the accident on March 8, it was discovered that other residents at the hotel had been locked on their balconies and used the same pathways to get help or climb down the stairwells. At this time there had been no information given out by the resort to warn people of the danger of falling.

"Hopefully the hotel resort Stella Duans in Jandia, Fuerteventura, where this tragedy too place have rectified the obvious problem with the balcony doors, before another death occurs.

"The family would also like to thank the support and advice given by Gwent Police during this difficulty period."