A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy from Manchester plunged 30ft to his death at a Tenerife holiday resort.

Jamie Owen slipped backwards after getting off a stool, fell underneath a railing and down concrete steps into a basement.

The youngster, from Burnage, suffered multiple injuries and died the following day in hospital.

His parents, Christopher Owen and Cliodhna McPhillips, along with his 13-year-old sister and 18-month-old brother were nearby in a ground-floor bar in Playa de las Americas, where they had gone for an evening out.

Mr Owen and a nurse who was in the bar ran to help when Jamie fell, but seeing the extent of his son's head injuries, he knew he didn't have "much chance".

Playing

He said that moments before the fall, Jamie, a pupil at Didsbury Road Primary School, Stockport, was sitting at a table playing with a seven-year-old British girl he met during the two-week holiday.

The tragedy happened in a family complex called The Patches. It is understood that the owner of the bar has since covered the gap under the railing with chicken wire.

Local reports have said a similar tragedy involving a child happened there about 15 years ago.

Warning

Jamie's parents are now warning other families to be aware of the dangers when travelling abroad.

Mr Owen said: "Jamie was our angel, our sunshine - and touched the hearts of everyone he met. He enjoyed life and lived it to the full. Our hearts are breaking and he will be missed by everyone. He was a clever, sensitive little boy with beautiful white hair and sparkling blue eyes, and he was fearless, just like his Power Rangers. That's how he would like to be remembered."

The couple said their distress was added to by the reaction of Spanish police. Mr Owen said an officer barred them from entering the ambulance and they took a taxi for the five-minute trip to the hospital.

The ambulance arrived 40 minutes after them, because doctors had tried to stabilise Jamie at the scene. He was later transferred to a hospital 60 miles away and his parents had to go by taxi.

A British Consular official later contacted the family and they said she was "gobsmacked" by the actions of the police.

Complaint

The official is said to have made up to five phone calls asking for the police to attend and they only arrived after she threatened to lodge a formal complaint.

Mr Owen said: "We were shocked by the reaction of the police, who didn't ask anything about the accident.

"To find out this has happened before was a shock. Once can be a tragedy, but twice is a crime and we will be looking to take action. We don't want this to happen to anyone else and parents should be aware."

A Foreign Office spokesman said British Consular staff had been working with the family.

Lesley-Anne Hill, deputy head at Didsbury Road Primary, said: "Jamie was a happy, lovely, helpful, friendly and popular boy."