Police are being urged to investigate the death of a British woman in a coastal town in Spain.
Pia Hokkanen fell from a second-floor communal window on her 50th birthday while staying for three days at her sister’s apartment in Torrevieja, Alicante.
Ms Hokkanen fell into a neighbour’s garden patio shortly after midnight on September 4, in what Spanish police have said was probably a suicide.
On the night of her death, Hokkanen had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend of seven years, Eugene Doris, 42, who left the apartment to go to a shelter four hours before her fatal fall.
He told The Guardian that the Civil Guard informed him that his partner had died almost a day after he left her.
Pia Hokkanen died after falling from a second-story window while staying at her sister’s apartment in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain, on her 50th birthday.
Denying that Hokkanen was suicidal, Doris compared his sudden death to something out of Final Destination, a 2000 horror film in which survivors of an air disaster die in a series of random accidents.
He said: “I think the police are still, yes, the police are still investigating this.” I think I have to contact them and I think some lawyers as well. It may have been an accident. It was probably an accident, yeah, that’s what I think.’
He added that he was looking for Spanish lawyers to put pressure on the police to investigate the evidence further and suggested it might be “helpful to involve the Metropolitan Police”.
Hokkanen, who had British and Finnish citizenship and had lived in Britain for 25 years, had planned a birthday party in London three days later.
I was also looking forward to returning to Spain for another holiday in October.
Both she and Mr. Doris had enjoyed a wine tasting the day she was discovered by a neighbor who heard her fall to the ground.
The Visa product manager was found wearing only panties, a T-shirt and a single sneaker, the counterpart of which was discovered pointing in the opposite direction of the window from which she fell.
At the time of the fatal incident, she appeared to have an open toiletry bag, the contents of which were found scattered all over the floor of the apartment, including lipstick, a toothbrush, a cotton swab and an eyeliner.
Some friends of Ms Hokkanen expressed concern that the Guardia Civil had concluded that she had taken her life without considering further evidence, such as reviewing CCTV footage from neighboring properties, analyzing messages on her two phones and interviewing possible witnesses.
Enrique Puerto, 44, who had known Ms Hokkanen for 20 years, said: “If you are not a resident and you are a foreigner, you become a statistic: case closed.”
Hokkanen had enjoyed a wine tasting with her boyfriend in Torrevieja on the day her neighbor discovered her dead.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “On Saturday 7 September, the Met was made aware of an ongoing investigation into the death of a 50-year-old man with dual British nationality in Torrevieja, Spain.
The role of “officials” in such cases is limited to facilitating communication between foreign authorities and anyone here in London who believes they may have relevant information to share.
‘Information has now been shared with the Spanish authorities leading this case. It will be up to them to determine whether additional action is necessary.’
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