TERMINAL TRAGEDY
Brit passenger, 30, ‘jumped to his death from terminal balcony on holiday with girlfriend and one-year-old daughter’
The man had just been escorted off the plane when he fell
A BRIT dad plunged 50ft to his death after jumping over a balcony at a Turkish airport yesterday, traumatised witnesses have claimed.
Andrew Paul Westlake, 30, had been escorted off a plane for "security reasons" minutes before he is understood to have leapt over a ledge at Dalaman airport.
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According to Turkish media he had been wandering the terminal for three days looking for a ticket back to Britain after missing his flight.
After boarding a flight at around 3am, Mr Westlake is said to have argued with cabin crew and been taken off the plane, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Earlier the pilot had ordered the dad, from County Durham, off the flight for being unruly and cops were called.
Mr Westlake's aunt Pauline Butler spoke of his mother's devastation following the death of the dad-of-one on his first family holiday with his partner and daughter.
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Previous reports claimed Mr Westlake had fallen from a jetty linking the plane to the terminal, but traumatised witnesses have claimed he fell to his death after climbing over the balcony inside the airport.
Bobby Youngson, who was in the airport at the time, told The Sun Online: "I was standing at the baggage drop to check in bags and I heard a woman scream and say 'he's jumped, he's jumped'.
"I ran over to the glass handrail - which came up chest height - and I looked over the handrail, and he was on the ground."
Mr Youngson continued: "I said what's happened, she said 'he just jumped, he's just climbed up and leaped.'
"Myself and another man went downstairs in the lift, we told him stay still don't move," he said.
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Another witness told the Mirror it appeared he previously tried to run into the glass balcony barrier.
She told the paper: "My partner said, 'Are you OK?' and tried to give him a hand, but he didn't speak. My partner watched him stand back up and he backed away from the barrier and then just ran for it and hopped over straight down onto the floor below.
"The image that my partner still has in his head is the man looking so desperate."
Another woman said a Thomas Cook Airlines worker was among the people to help Andrew as he lay on the floor, and said: "When we spoke to the airline representative who went down there, she said that he was saying to her that he just wanted it to end... She didn't know what he meant by it."
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One of the last people to speak to the 30-year-old before his death - who said he spoke to him in the queue - said he told him he had been kicked off a previous flight for putting sun cream on blisters he had on his feet.
Perry Sheldon from Dudley said: "He said there were signs up saying people should not wash their feet and when they questioned him about it, they said it was an insult to their culture."
He told ChronicleLive: “He said all he wanted to do was get home.
“He seemed a bit nervous but he wasn’t in any way aggressive, he didn’t seem like a threat to anyone.
“He seemed like a lovely lad.”
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When he was kicked off, Mr Sheldon said: "He didn't act aggressively in any way, he just stood up and got off.
"All he did was say to the man next to him 'I told you that would happen'."
Mr Westlake's aunt Pauline Butler told the Chronicle Live he was on a family holiday with his girlfriend and baby daughter when the tragedy happened early on Tuesday morning.
She said: "We really don’t know what to think. His mum is absolutely devastated. They were very close."
Pauline said his mother June is "heartbroken and can barely speak" following the death of the doting dad of one.
She said he had some problems during his younger years, but turned his life around following the birth of his daughter around a year ago.
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She said: "He really settled down since she was born. He was a really doting dad. He absolutely idolised his little girl. He would do anything for her."
Speaking of his relationship with his girlfriend, a family friend said: “They have had quite a volatile relationship but the common denominator is their baby, who they both love.”
Andrew's friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said "he was a lovely person, dead polite and respectful".
She added: "I saw him a couple of weeks ago, he seemed happy as Larry."
Another woman who did not wish to be named added: "He was a well known lad, very popular. It's a massive shock to wake up to."
Insisting his little girl will still have memories of her dad when she grows up, the woman added: "His daughter will always know her dad as he was such a popular person.
"He was lovely, he was a lads lad."
Paramedics rushed to the scene and he was taken to a nearby hospital but died later from his injuries in the early hours of yesterday morning.
He was said to have suffered broken ribs and did not regain consciousness.
A Foreign Office spokesman told The Sun Online: "We are supporting the family of the British man following his death in Turkey and we are in touch with the local authorities."
A spokesperson said for Jet2 said: “We understand that a customer sadly passed away on Tuesday morning, following an incident inside the terminal building at Dalaman Airport. Contrary to some reports, we can confirm that the customer was not injured on our aircraft or in the vicinity of our aircraft.
“As investigations are ongoing it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further, however we would like to extend our sincere condolences to the customer’s family and friends at this very sad time.”
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans on (free) 116123.