Harry Begg’s heartbroken mum says Spanish authorities kept the biggest and most important part of him for investigation – she only found out the day before the teenager’s funeral
A teenager was buried without his heart after Spanish authorities kept the organ. Harry Begg, 19, was killed in an alleged deliberate hit-and-run in Tenerife on December 1.
However, just hours before Harry’s funeral on January 6, his mum Nicola Gardner was informed by the Spanish coroner that the authorities had decided to keep his heart.
Nicola, 50, said: “The biggest part of Harry was his heart. If Harry loved you, he loved you with everything. The biggest part of Harry is stuck in Tenerife, where he was killed; left like a dog to die in the road. We’ve buried him without it.”
Harry, from Kirkby in Merseyside, was riding an electric bike in Arona, in Tenerife, when he was allegedly struck down by a driver who failed to stop. Harry suffered devastating head injuries and tragically died at the scene.
Nicola revealed that a murder investigation into Harry’s death was initiated by Spanish police. In messages viewed by the ECHO, Spanish investigators refer to the case as a “criminal death”
The messages also informed Nicola that Harry’s heart “is being preserved pending further testing as the investigation progresses, given that it was a criminal death”. They added: “Regarding the investigation, we continue to analyse information daily, as we do every day.”
Nicola stated she is not aware of any significant investigation taking place. She said: “I haven’t cried properly. Every time I look at a picture of him my head explodes because of the lack of investigation.
“You expect the police to do their job. You expect them to do what they’re supposed to do. The Spanish police have told me they have two eye-witness statements, and still nothing.
“This is my baby and they think that just because he’s out of the country now it doesn’t matter. I just want to know who killed him.”
Harry was the youngest of four boys. His 20th birthday is just a fortnight away. His brothers, Thomas, 21, Ted, 25, and Nicholas, 27, are “devastated”.
Nicola added: “Thomas and Harry were like peas in a pod. You didn’t get one without the other. He’s broken.”
Due to complications with paperwork from Spanish authorities, Harry was laid to rest two days after his funeral mass, Nicola explained. She added: “The Spanish coroner told me that they still had his heart the day before the funeral, and I got really upset. She said she would call me back when I had calmed down, and they still haven’t rang me back.
“There was no need for them to take the heart. He had a healthy heart, and he died of a catastrophic head injury. There was no peace for me at the funeral, no closure.”
Paying tribute to her son, Nicola said: “Harry was caring, lovely, dead funny, and if he loved you, he loved you. He was dead clever and witty. He had an answer for everything.”
She hadn’t seen Harry since he left for Tenerife 18 months ago. She recalled: “He went over for a holiday. He had a couple of mates staying there, and he loved it so much that he stayed.
“We always talked over Facetime, and about three days before it happened, he said to me ‘Just think mum, if you get a passport, in six hours you could be sat next to me.'”.
“Then I had to get an emergency passport. The first time I went, they wouldn’t let me see him and there was no translator. I had no idea what was going on. I’m probably never going to be okay ever again. I don’t know how I’m supposed to be. Somebody knows something.
“You can’t run a 19-year-old over and kill them and keep that to yourself. I don’t have the words for them. Evil walks among us. If I had done that, I’d be crucified by my conscience. He’s never going to be a man, he’s never going to have children of his own.”
Nicola says she is being supported by Harry’s friends who call her everyday to check in on her and that the church was “heaving” at his funeral.
The coroner’s office for Liverpool and Wirral was notified about Harry’s death on New Year’s Eve, 30 days after the incident. The coroner’s office confirmed the investigation remains ongoing.
Nicola said that Merseyside Police had not contacted her regarding Harry’s death. A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: “We have been made aware of the death of Harry Begg in Tenerife.
“The investigation into his death sits with the Spanish police but we are in the process of contacting his family to offer our support.”
Authorities in Spain and the Spanish Civil Guard, who are conducting the investigation have been approached.