Man tells Bradford inquest how his friend Danny Kelly, of Haworth, was chased by bouncer into sea off Zante to his death

Dad-of-two Danny Kelly was only 23 when he disappeared into the sea on August 23 last year - the first day of his holiday to the Greek island of Zante.

Tragically his lifeless body was found floating off the coast by a pair of German tourists in a pedalo the next day, an inquest in Bradford was told.

Fabricator Mr Kelly, of Woodlands Rise, Haworth, left his partner Lauren Stevenson, 21, and their two daughters, Nora, now two, and Ivy.

Ivy, who will be one in November, has never met her dad.

Martin Spencer, 30, was one of Mr Kelly's best friends and was on holiday with him, along with another friend Robert North, when he died.

The inquest heard that the three friends had landed in Greece on the afternoon of the August 23 and spent some time drinking and enjoying the pool before heading to the Cameo Island Club for the White Party.

Giving evidence, Mr Spencer told how they arrived at the party at about 7pm and were initially together in the club before splitting up.

At about 10.30pm he said he was going to use the toilet when he found Danny who told him "we have to go".

Mr Spencer said he would meet Mr Kelly at the steps at the front of the club after he had collected Mr North.

But after having no luck finding Mr North, Mr Spencer left the club and realised Mr Kelly was not at the steps, so he began walking across the rope bridge to the mainland.

As he was doing this, he told the inquest, he saw Mr Kelly running from the opposite direction towards the sea pursued by a larger man.

This man, the court heard, was a Serbian bouncer called Nikola Miscevic, 32, who was allegedly socialising at the White Party.

Mr Spencer said he saw Mr Kelly run "full pelt" into the sea, adding the other man stopped as Mr Kelly swam away and "straight away started picking rocks up and throwing them".

He described the rocks as "fist size", adding: "He were throwing them hard and a lot."

He told the court it was very dark but he did not believe any of the rocks hit his friend.

Mr Spencer said the man on the beach was screaming at Mr Kelly, he could not tell what language, and he heard his friend say from the water "I haven't done anything".

He said he heard Mr Kelly say this when he went behind a boulder to avoid the rocks - soon after this he went missing.

By this point Mr Spencer was down on the beach and had taken out his mobile phone and began filming what was happening.

"This guy is a pretty big guy and I thought if I was filming him he would stop," he said, adding: "He grabbed hold of me, punched me to the back of the head a couple of times, threw me to the floor and snatched the phone out of my hand."0 It was while the man was going through his phone that Mr Spencer made his escape but there was still no sign of Mr Kelly.

He immediately went to the police but they could not find him.

The next day, the police are called again and in the afternoon, at about 3pm, Mr Kelly's body was found.

It was after that, the police called for security staff from the Cameo Island Club to come down to the station.

Mr Spencer said he identified Miscevic, who admitted he was the man involved and gave him back his phone, but it did not work.

The inquest heard that Miscevic and some associated from the club gave a different account of what happened.

They say Mr Kelly leapt off the second floor of the club into the sea of his own accord, then when staff took the boat out to pick him up he was brought into the boat but jumped out again.

They said when the finally got him to shore he ran to the end of the jetty and jumped back in the sea again, and that's when they left him.

Miscevic told police he threw a few pebbles near to Mr Kelly as he seemed confused and he was trying to get his attention to come back.

Miscevic was convicted in his absence for assaulting Mr Spencer and stealing his phone and received a suspended sentence.

When asked if he later found out Miscevic had retuned to Serbia, Mr Spencer replied: "We did yeah".

The cause of Mr Kelly's death was given as drowning.

A statement read out to the inquest from his mum Colette Kelly said: "That day, Monday 24th August my destiny changed when I partly died.

"Danny was a kind and considerate young man, he lived life to the full with a young family to love and support."

She added that her son volunteered in his spare time to work with disabled adults and the elderly.

She said: "Danny had his whole life in front of him, which was cruelly taken from him without any regard."

Speaking about life after her son's death, she said in her statement: "Waiting for justice, seeing to it that my son's killer is brought to justice because I promised my son that is exactly what I would do, while lowering his body into the ground."

She goes on to say: "I am aware Nikola Miscevic was charged with offences relating to Martin but nothing happened to him in relation to Danny's death, which to me is totally unacceptable."

"I will not rest until I get a full and proper investigation into Danny's death. I need to know what happened in Zante so that I can start to come to terms with losing Danny," she added.

Coroner Martin Fleming adjourned the inquest until November after he heard the Greek public prosecutor has re-opened Mr Kelly's case and witnesses were being re-interviewed.

MORE TOP STORIES