Ladies' Night Tragedy

A distraught son has told how he watched helplessly as his father slipped through his fingers and plunged 40ft to his death from a hotel balcony.
Chris Riley, 43, found himself locked out of his room at an exclusive hotel when he drunkenly tried to climb from the balcony of his son's room onto his own.
He misjudged the manoevure and ended up holding onto the railings. He cried out to his sleeping son Nicholas for help as he dangled from the fourth floor balcony.
The 24-year-old grabbed hold of his father's arms and desparetly tried to haul him to safety.
But he told an inquest that his dad was too heavy and he slipped from his grasp.
Mr Riley fell to the ground, striking another balcony in the fall. He suffered severe multiple injuries and died several hours later.
The hearing heard scaffolder Mr Riley was at the 185 pounds a night Sandbanks Hotel on the exclusive peninsula in Poole, Dorset, with his family for the weekend.
His father-in-law, David, was a Freemason and the organisation was staging a ladies' night ball there at the time on Saturday, September 5.
Mr Riley, a married father-of-four, had been drinking all day and night and returned to his hotel room at 2am the next morning to get some more money.
But he didn't have his key and so went next door to Nicholas's room.
Nicholas went back to bed while Mr Riley sat out on the balcony before attempting to climb the adjoining wall.
He said: "My father had been sat in the chair on the balcony looking out to the sea. I just dozed off before he started shouting 'Nick help.'
"I ran straight out onto the balcony and he was hanging from the railing on his side.
"I couldn't grab him so I went to try and kick his door in but it was solid.
"I ran back into my room and climbed over the balcony. I grabbed hold of him but he was just too heavy.
"He was a bit sweaty as well, I couldn't get a proper grip. I think I was holding onto both his arms and he was holding onto the balcony.
"I couldn't hold on to him."
He said: "I ran straight downstairs in my boxers and went out to the back of the hotel. I found him and put him in the recovery position.
"He was making a gargling sound. There was nobody about at that point and I ran back inside and called for help."
Mr Riley's wife Clair was still at the ball when she spotted her son run through the reception area.
She said in a statement read out to the Bournemouth inquest: "I remember seeing Nick running past the reception desk, he was screaming and calling for help.
"I had no idea what was going on but he was saying that his dad had fallen.
"I went outside and could see Chris on the ground, he was on his back."
Mrs Riley, who had been with Mr Riley for 24 years and married for 15, said previously: "I was begging him not to die, telling him to wake up and stop being so silly."
Mr Riley, from Bognor Regis, West Sussex, suffered a fractured left shoulder and multiple fractured ribs, two of which had punctered his lung.
A post mortem examination revealed he died from multiple injuries.
Toxicology tests showed he was three times the drink drive limit when he died and had traces of cocaine in his blood as well.
Police investigated the death but concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.
Mr Sheriff Payne, coroner for Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset, recorded a verdict of accidental death.
He said: "He died as a result of an accident which brought a happy, family weekend to a tragic close."