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Home / Lifestyle

Hotel apologises for 'horrifying' dead son tribute

By Laura FitzPatrick
Daily Telegraph UK·
7 Dec, 2018 09:18 PM3 mins to read

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Staff at Royalton Jamaica Resort created a mannequin tribute to the late footballer Alex Stephens.

Staff at Royalton Jamaica Resort created a mannequin tribute to the late footballer Alex Stephens.

Hotel staff have apologised for creating a "horrifying" effigy of a dead footballer in an attempt at a tribute for his parents that went terribly wrong.

Karen Baker, from Hertfordshire, had arranged for staff from a five-star Jamaican hotel resort to dress a room for friends Faye and Andrew Stephens, whose son Alex died after falling from a balcony on holiday in 2014.

The couple, from Willesden, north-west London, were on holiday with Mrs Baker, Alex's godmother, to celebrate his birthday this week, a tradition they began after his death, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Instead of a heartfelt tribute, hotel staff created a life-size model made out of clothes lying on the hotel bed, holding a birthday cake.

TUI UK have since refunded the family for the "misunderstanding" after they spoke about it on BBC radio.

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Mrs Baker had paid two staff from the Royalton Jamaica Resort to secretly decorate Mr and Mrs Stephens' bedroom with a cake and balloons.

But the two hotel workers created the mannequin instead, complete with a can of lager and tears on its face.

The body was lying next to petals arranged to read: "We miss you Alex".

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Mrs Baker, who first discovered the effigy, said she was "utterly horrified" and managed to remove the dummy before Alex's parents saw it.

She told the BBC: "When I walked into the bedroom, all I can describe is a dummy body on the bed," she said.

"Staff had gone through my friend's wardrobe and stuffed the clothes with towels to make it look like a body on the bed. They even put tears down the face and a can of lager in his hand.

"I was absolutely horrified - as you can imagine I was sweating and shaking. We just didn't want our friends to see it.

"I have truly never seen anything like it. I still look at the photographs now and can't believe somebody thought to do that".

Alex Stephens died after flying to Barcelona with friends for a music festival in 2014.

The 21-year-old footballer was scouted by Watford FC aged 10 and played for Norwich City between 2009 and 2011 before becoming a first team player for AFC Wembley.

A TUI UK spokesman said: "We offer our sincere apologies to the Baker party for their holiday experience in Jamaica.

"We're following up with the hotel and believe it was a misunderstanding with no intention to cause upset."

The family have since received a full refund from TUI of £1,300 per person for the five-star holiday.

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