Hopes TV documentary can help solve mystery of Kirsty Maxwell death

The programme will follow ex-DCI David Swindle as he tries to piece together what happened in the moments leading up to Mrs Maxwell plunging from a Benidorm hotel balcony.

Family and friends of Mrs Maxwell, from Livingston, West Lothian, have been interviewed after being “abandoned” by authorities in their tireless pursuit of answers.

“Over a year has passed since Kirsty died and the answers are still out there. There are still potential witnesses in Benidorm,” said Mr Swindle.

Mrs Maxwell, 27, arrived in Benidorm for her friend’s hen party last April. Returning home from their first night out, all the women fell asleep but Mrs Maxwell awoke and left her room.

She ended up on the tenth floor in a room full of strangers – five men from Nottingham. She fell from the window of that room and the men denied responsibility for her death.

Mrs Maxwell family drafted in Mr Swindle as an independent reviewer of the case, drawing on his 34 years as a detective, including bringing serial killer Peter Tobin to justice.

Mr Swindle has recruited a small unit of Spanish-speaking investigators to help him search for potential clues.

“Social media has played a huge part in getting to where we are now and I have a team of multilingual experts supporting me,” he said. “Families like Kirsty’s should get this automatically. If it wasn’t for their determination, she’d just be another statistic.”

Mr Swindle hopes tonight’s “heart-wrenching” programme will help jog the memory of someone in Benidorm at the time and help unlock the mystery. “I’m encouraging people to come forward with anything they might think is relevant,” he said.

Any reaction to the broadcast deemed crucial to the case will be forwarded to the Spanish prosecutor.

On the Maxwell family, Mr Swindle said: “They’ve been abandoned by governments. It’s shocking. There’s no family support for them, they’ve got to finance this themselves.”

Killed Abroad is screened tonight on BBC One Scotland at 9pm.