Kona Gamble death: Questions over Cyprus hotel locked door

Kona died on 1 August 2013, days after being injured in the fall

A man who died after apparently falling from the roof of a hotel in Cyprus may have got through a door which should have been locked, an inquest heard.

Kona Gamble, 21, from Leicester, died from head injuries while trying to climb down to his room.

A lawyer for Thomas Cook told the court a maintenance worker had insisted the roof door had been locked.

The inquest at Leicester Coroner's Court concluded Mr Gamble's death was accidental.

Mr Gamble's friends found him badly injured, upside down and trapped on an air conditioning unit, on his own first floor balcony, at the four-storey Hotel Christabel Apartments, on 28 July 2013.

CCTV showed Kona Gamble heading towards his hotel room which he did not have a key for

The apprentice electrician later died in hospital.

The court heard he had been drinking in Ayia Napa and returned alone to the hotel in an intoxicated state.

He did not collect his room key from reception and hotel CCTV showed him making his way up a staircase.

Det Con Stephen Winterton, from Leicestershire Police, said it was most likely Mr Gamble had been on the roof.

Kona Gamble's father, Dorian (right), said, via solicitors, he was considering legal action

The door to the roof, which had a push bar, was supposed to be locked, the court heard.

Nikita McNeil, for Thomas Cook, told the court that written evidence from the hotel maintenance man said the door was locked when he left, and when the Cyprus police arrived.

However, coroner Catherine Mason said: "The very fact that a person has an honest belief that a door is locked because that is how it always is, doesn't mean in any certainty that it was locked at a certain time."

She asked Det Con Winterton if there was an opportunity to have locked the door before the police arrived.

He replied: "There is a possibility yes."

Mr Gamble's father Dorian Gamble said he was considering whether to take legal action, but did not give further details.