Harry Begg, 19, was buried without his heart, which is being kept by Spanish authorities
Harry Begg, 19, was buried without his heart, which is being kept by Spanish authorities
A murdered Merseyside teenager was buried without his heart after Spanish authorities kept the organ. Harry Begg, 19, was killed in an alleged targeted hit-and-run in Tenerife on December 1.
Mum Nicola Gardner, 50, was told by the Spanish coroner that they authorities had decided to keep Harry’s heart hours before Harry’s funeral in Anfield on January 6. She told the ECHO: “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, was travelling on an electric bike in Arona, where he had been living for 18 months, when he was allegedly mowed down by a driver who failed to stop. Harry suffered catastrophic head injuries and died at the scene.
Nicola, who lives in Kensington, told the ECHO that a murder investigation was launched into Harry’s death by Spanish police. In messages seen by the ECHO, Spanish investigators refer to the case as a “criminal death”.
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.
In a message seen by the ECHO, a Spanish investigator told 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 said she is not aware of any meaningful 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 buried two days after his funeral mass due to issues obtaining paperwork from Spanish authorities, Nicola said. 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.”
Harry was the youngest of four boys. His 20th birthday is in just two weeks time. His brothers, Thomas, 21, Ted, 25, and Nicholas, 27, are “devastated”. Nicola said: “Thomas and Harry were like peas in a pod. You didn’t get one without the other. He’s broken.”
Of 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.”
Nicola had not seen Harry since he left for Tenerife 18 months ago. She said: “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.”
Nicola added: “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.”
Of his funeral Nicola said: “The church was heaving. And his friends are beautiful. They call me everyday, they pop in, and they genuinely care. Harry was adored, and I can’t believe I’ll never see him again. How is any of that fair?”
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.”
The ECHO approached authorities in Spain and the Spanish Civil Guard, who are conducting the investigation.
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