Hotel apologises after creating 'horrifying' dummy of guests' dead son as tribute

Hotel staff have apologised for creating a "horrifying" effigy of a dead footballer in an attempt at a tribute for his parents that went terribly wrong.

Karen Baker, from Hertfordshire, had arranged for staff from a five-star Jamaican hotel resort to dress a room for friends Faye and Andrew Stephens, whose son Alex died after falling from a balcony on holiday in 2014.

The couple, from Willesden, north-west London, were on holiday with Mrs Baker, Alex's godmother, to celebrate his birthday this week, a tradition they began after his death.

Instead of a heartfelt tribute, hotel staff created a life-size model made out of clothes lying on the hotel bed, holding a birthday cake.

TUI UK have since refunded the family for the "misunderstanding" after they spoke about it on BBC radio.

Mrs Baker had paid two staff from the Royalton Jamaica Resort to secretly decorate Mr and Mrs Stephens' bedroom with a cake and balloons.

But the two hotel workers created the mannequin instead, complete with a can of lager and tears on its face.

The body was lying next to petals arranged to read: "We miss you Alex".

Mrs Baker, who first discovered the effigy, said she was "utterly horrified" and managed to remove the dummy before Alex's parents saw it.