British tourist, 21, falls to her death from ninth floor of a Benidorm hotel 'after night of heavy drinking with her boyfriend'

The 21-year-old, named today as Danielle Hall from Newcastle, died virtually instantly after falling from her balcony after a night out in the Costa Blanca resort in south eastern Spain.

She was staying at the three-star Bermudas apartment hotel with her 23-year-old boyfriend Jordan Bevan and his grandmother who was sleeping in another room.

Local reports said the couple had been drinking heavily and she lost her balance and went over the balcony railing as she went to answer the door to a relative who was also staying at the hotel. 

They had only arrived at the hotel for a scheduled week-long stay the day before the tragedy.

A source said: 'The hotel staff are really shaken up about what's happened.

'The woman who assigned the dead woman and her boyfriend to the ninth-floor room they were staying in feels a sense of guilt over what happened and has been telling colleagues the holidaymaker would be alive today if she's put them in a first or second floor room.

'The boyfriend and his grandma were still at the hotel yesterday/on Sunday because they were spotted going out for a walk around midday but no-one's really sure what they're going to do and whether they're going to cut their holiday short and fly back home early.'

Police said they were not in a position to make an official comment but were treating the woman's death as an accident.

A spokesman said: 'There is nothing at this stage to indicate any foul play.'

The tragedy happened around 2am on Sunday.  Police and paramedics rushed to the scene but could do nothing to save her life.

An investigation has been launched into her death, which is being carried out by police under the supervision of a local judge. 

Ms Hall used to be a zookeeper at Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens in Portland, Northumberland, which opened in 2011 and is now home to over 200 species of animals including wallabies and meerkats.

She had been dating her boyfriend Jordan since February and in July they posted identical messages on social media saying: 'Love you babe.'

It is believed they had travelled to Benidorm to enjoy the town's annual festival and to take part in the British Fancy Dress Day on Thursday, which takes place the day after the Benidorm fiestas finish.

The huge fancy dress party, which has been going around 20 years, attracts some 30,000 people and has been described as the biggest event of its kind in Europe.