The families of three young men have been left bereft following a freak succession of holiday drownings.
A Perth painter and decorator, a part-time Fife soldier and a talented Kinross-shire jockey all died as what should have been dream breaks in the sun turned to tragedy.
Heartbroken relatives of teenager Owen Ford spoke of their devastation after his body was pulled from a swimming pool in the coastal resort of Cala de Bou on the popular Spanish island of Ibiza.
Mum Jackie will travel to Spain to be reunited with the body of her 19-year-old son, who was only hours into his holiday when tragedy struck.
Early indications are that the former Perth High pupil’s death on Sunday was accidental, although the family will be hoping the authorities can shed more light on the circumstances when they arrive there.
Graeme Hartis, a 28-year-old junior NCO with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, perished after getting into difficulty in a lake in Bratislava.
The Glenrothes man was on a stag trip he had organised for his best friend Mark McLean.
Graeme’s distraught friends could only watch in horror as his body was pulled from the lake by members of a specialist diving team on June 23.
An army spokeswoman paid tribute and offered ”full support” to his grieving family.Tragic twistMeanwhile, the horse racing world was thrust into mourning following the death of top young jockey Campbell Gillies in Greece.
Set to celebrate his 22nd birthday on Wednesday, Campbell had joined renowned Kinross-shire trainer Lucinda Russell’s stables in 2007.
He died after plunging into a pool on Tuesday morning following an evening out with friends.
Campbell’s trip to the Greek island of Corfu came after a superb few months for the talented jockey, who famously partnered racehorse Brindisi Breeze to victory at the Cheltenham Festival.
In a further tragic twist, his death comes just a few weeks after Brindisi Breeze was killed in a collision with a fuel tanker.
Countless tributes have been paid to the much-loved jump jockey.
Fellow rider AP McCoy described him as a ”great jockey and an even better bloke”.
Photo by PA Wire