I DIDN’T STRANGLE KIRSTY

EXCLUSIVE: Former Queen’s guardsman insists he found ‘suicidal’ girlfriend dead at Catalan hotel

AN Irishman accused of killing his girlfriend while on holiday in Spain has insisted his total innocence.

The former British soldier - who once guarded the Queen - told the Olive Press how he had found Kirsty Ward’s body lying prone with a ligature around her neck.

Speaking from prison in Catalunya, Keith Byrne, 30, revealed his girlfriend had ‘serious mental health problems’ and had tried to kill herself on ‘various’ occasions.

The former Irish Guard - who protected the royals at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace for four years - insisted: “I try to protect lives, not take lives.”

The salesman, from County Meath, had actually administered CPR in the doorway and not, as alleged, in the corridor of their hotel room in Salou.

He, along with another hotel guest, a British tourist, tried to bring the mother-of-one back to life.

The ex-soldier insists he had been at a beach bar all day, as verified by CCTV, and came back to find she had strangled herself with an electrical cord.

He had returned to the room at the Hotel Magnolia to get his passport and suitcase, after they had argued and decided to split up.

But when he got there the door ‘wouldn’t open’, as she was rigid and lying prone blocking the door from inside.

“It was awful. Her eyes were grey and her lips were cold and blue,” he revealed by phone from the low se-

EXCLUSIVE

By Jon Clarke

curity unit, near Barcelona.

“I will never get this image out of my mind.

“She had been dead for some time and was so cold. I never felt cold like that before. I just can’t get it out of my head,” he added.

“I took the cord off and screamed for help and some British tourists next door rushed over and one took over and started giving her CPR as well.”

Clearly upset, he continued: “Now I am being accused of killing her, but I have never been arrested in all my life.

Children

“I am stuck here away from my three children and it could take months to prove my innocence. Nobody knows for how long and there are no criminal charges yet,” he continued. His family meanwhile told the Olive Press that Kirsty, 36, had been suffering serious mental health issues for some years and was ‘on medication’.

His sister Tara, 33, said Kirsty had a ‘borderline personality disorder’ and had ‘tried to kill herself a number of times’.

“She had been an inpatient at a mental health facility in Dublin and was visiting as an outpatient every three weeks,” she revealed.

“Things got so bad in Spain that Keith actually called me on the second day of the holiday saying he wanted to come home.

“He said he couldn’t ‘do this anymore’ and was going to get an early

FROM LOVE: to tragedy - Kirsty with Keith on flight to Spain flight. He said her drug addiction was too tough and she was drinking too much. He said she was ‘too high’ and he just couldn’t ‘calm her down’.”

The pair met in November, via a dating site, and moved in together ‘within weeks’.

They fell ‘madly in love’ and at first didn’t stop ‘laughing and joking’ and even went on a skiing holiday with friends.

But, after a couple of months, Kirsty started to get ‘needy’ and ‘possessive’.

The holiday in Salou started badly when they rowed on the second night about staying out or going home and she allegedly went off with another mystery man.

“Keith woke up on Sunday morning and she’d been out all night,” claimed Tara. “She admitted she had been with someone and they agreed it was over.”

While Keith wanted them to split up on ‘good terms’ and go home together, Kirsty had ‘other ideas’ and stormed off.

Keith spent the afternoon with a German expat called ‘Lars’ and eventually went back to the hotel at

9.17pm to get his passport and bag.

“Fortunately video cameras can prove all the timings, but he entered the hotel at 9.17pm and went up to the ninth floor, where the alarm was raised at 9.22pm,” insisted Tara.

“The police and paramedics were on the scene very quickly, but she was already dead.”

Killed

She continued: “There was literally no time for Keith to have killed her. Evidence revealed to us in court on July 5 shows the window of opportunity was only two minutes tops.”

A Spanish judge decided however, to refuse Byrne bail as he doesn’t have a Spanish residence.

At a secret court hearing in Tarragona he was remanded in custody, while police undertake more enquiries.

A funeral was held for Kirsty at a packed St John the Evangelist Church in County Dublin last week. The mother of son, Euan, was described as an ‘adored daughter’ and ‘much-loved friend’.

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