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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Josh Luckhurst

Mum struggling to eat and sleep after finding dead body on Jet2 holiday beach

A mum has spoken about how she is "traumatised" after finding a dead body while on holiday with her family which has led to panic attacks and night terrors.

Emma Elliott jetted off for a relaxing week-long family holiday to Menorca with partner Lee Brogden, seven-year-old son Bobby-lee Brogden and nephew Lee when the discovery rocked their trip.

After four days of relaxing at the beachfront hotel and pool, Emma went for a run in the early hours of the fifth morning at nearby Arenal d'en Castell beach.

However, the exercise turned into a tragedy when she spotted what she thought was a giant jellyfish on the beach, only to discover it was a dead body.

Emma found the dead body while running along Arenal d'en Castell beach last month (Kennedy News and Media)

She raced back to her hotel room in tears to tell Lee what she had found, with the couple and a hotel staff member returning to the beach to stop the body drifting back into the sea as her partner rang the police, Hull Live reported.

Emma said: "It happened on the fifth day of our holiday. Up to that point we had been having a really nice time.

"We had been going to the beach, going on the pedalos and the discos at night time. That morning I woke up at 6:22am. No-one else was awake because it was so early, so I thought I would go to the gym in the hotel.

"But when I arrived at the gym there was a sign on the door saying it wasn't open until 9am so I decided to go on a jog along the marina.

"I had jogged halfway along the marina [about five minutes] and thought I would turn back because the sea was a bit choppy, but I decided to continue as it looked safe to do so.

"Four steps later, I looked to my right and there was a dead body lying on the beach.

"I had to look about three times before I realised it was a body. I thought it was a jellyfish at first because he was so translucent. [You could see] where he had been struggling to catch his breath underwater. I could see all his face and his body.

"I can't get the image out of my head. It all seemed to happen in slow motion."

She left flowers and a note for the deceased body (Kennedy News and Media)

Since the incident in Menorca, Emma has revealed that she has suffered from regular panic attacks and struggles to eat and sleep on a daily basis.

Although she returned to the scene on the final day of the holiday for her "peace of mind" and left flowers and a note for the deceased body.

But Emma added that she will refuse to go to a beach on her own in the near future due to the lasting effects of the discovery.

She concluded: "After finding the body on holiday, I was down all the time and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was having really bad panic attacks and I seem to be having more and more.

"Maybe this is because the shock of what happened has worn off. I'm still having panic attacks now and the doctors have had to prescribe me sleeping pills.

"I keep having nightmares and I'm waking up in the middle of the night. My partner also had to see the dead body and he can't sleep properly either.

"I'm not eating very well at the moment and I could hardly eat on holiday as I just felt sick. We booked the holiday through Jet2, they offered counselling initially and I had one session of trauma counselling while on holiday.

"I'm just a bit traumatised by what went on."

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