A 74-year-old British woman fell to her death at the Playa Flamenca commercial centre on the Orihuela Costa last Friday.
Hilary Philips was walking along a footpath on the edge of the centre close to the Help at Home office when she stumbled and fell three metres through a gap in the fence, onto the road below.
Resident groups said the gap had been a known hazard for years with repeated concerns about what could happen.
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Her friend and neighbour, Priscilla Cromie, was with Hilary at the time of the accident.
“I will never get it out of my head’, she said as the fall happened in an area where construction work was taking place.
“She walked on the wrong side where the workers were and went straight over the edge of the track, falling down into the service road,” Priscilla added.
An Orihuela Policia Local patrol called an ambulance with paramedics treating her for 45 minutes before stabilising her condition.
Hilary was then taken to Torrevieja Hospital with serious head and neck injuries.
She passed away several hours later after an operation.
Hilary had lived with her husband Ray in the Parque del Duque area of the Orihuela Costa for nearly two decades, before his death last year.
Her funeral took place on Tuesday in San Pedro del Pinatar.
