Rugby player Freddie Pring's Magaluf balcony death 'accidental'

A 20-year-old British man was "three times over drink-drive limit" when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Magaluf, an inquest has heard.

Freddie Pring, a rugby player with Minehead Barbarians, was staying at Sol Wave House Hotel with friends who were asleep at the time of the fall in June.

The inquest heard alcohol may have had "some effect on his concentration" and he may have "tripped or overbalanced".

Somerset coroner Tony Williams recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Mr Pring was on an all-expenses paid three-day trip with a Bristol-based firm as a thank you for meeting company targets.

Somerset Coroner's Court heard the group of 24 workers had arrived at the resort hours earlier and spent the day at the pool before going out and visiting several bars.

No-one saw what happened, but a nearby supermarket worker raised the alarm after hearing a loud noise.

Mr Pring was found on the ground and treated by the emergency services but died at the scene in the early hours of 7 June.

A post-mortem examination found he had sustained a fatal head injury and died from a traumatic brain injury consistent with a fall.

The court was told there was no evidence he had been "fooling around" before the fall but the sequence of events suggested he had "tripped or overbalanced".

Mr Williams said the "amount of alcohol" he had consumed would be expected to have had "some effect upon his co-ordination and reaction times".

"When he has gone out there, he has either tripped, over-balanced or stumbled and then fallen over the balcony and suffered the fatal injuries," Mr Williams said.

"I have heard nothing by way of evidence to record anything but an accidental death."