Unanswered questions remain over death of Bowburn Infants School teacher in Mexico

Alix Bussey died from serious spinal injuries after being hit or run over by a motor vehicle.

Club Bongo in Cancun. Picture: Google Maps

The tragedy happened on the penultimate night of a ten-night trip to the resort of Riviera Maya with boyfriend Jonathan Boyle, who is unable to remember anything about the incident.

The besotted couple spent the evening at the Coco Bongo nightclub in Cancun - some 21 miles from their beachside hotel - on April 9 last year.

But what happened between them leaving the club and being found on the road may never be known.

The Azul Sensatori Hotel where the couple were staying. Picture: Google Maps

Police were called to the scene of the incident about nine miles from the club at 5.15am next morning where they found the former Bowburn Infants School teacher had been fatally injured.

The County Durham and Darlington Coroners’ Office made numerous requests for information from the Mexican authorities while the 23-year-old's family carried out their own research into the circumstances of her death.

However, there are still many unanswered questions, including:

• How the couple covered the nine miles from the club after missing the 3am bus

• What happened to their valuables – watches, iphones, cash, Miss Bussey’s handbag and identification – which were never found

• Why a witness appeal appears never to have been made by police

• Why the serial number on a windscreen wiper at the scene was not used to try to trace the vehicle involved

• Why, if CCTV covering the scene was down for maintenance between 3am and 7am that morning, other cameras in the area were not checked

Mr Boyle, an IT worker for the NHS, told the Crook inquest the couple had seats on a bus to take them back to the Azul Sensatori Hotel but he can't remember why they failed to catch it.

They had been out for a meal and each enjoyed a beer before heading to the nightclub where they drank vodka and lemonades.

It was an all-inclusive package so they only took money in Miss Bussey’s handbag in case they needed a taxi.

It had been the couple's first holiday abroad and only the night before Miss Bussey texted her younger sister saying she was having "the bestest time ever".

Mr Boyle, of Langley Moor, Durham City, said: “We have obviously got some form of transport to be there (at the scene of the incident) but I don’t remember.

“We must have got a lift or a taxi. The first thing I remember is being woken up at the side of the road. It was a police officer patting my leg.

“I was told Alix had been hit by a car while crossing the road.”

Mr Boyle was found uninjured at the side of the road.

Only one of her earrings and a belly button ring was found. The couple’s valuables, including a necklace Miss Bussey’s mother Penny said her daughter would have been wearing, were never found.

Mr Boyle, who had known her for about two years, said it was possible she might have left her handbag at he club but this did not explain the missing watches.

Miss Bussey’s father Colin said the family had visited the scene to try and understand for themselves what had happened but felt they still needed an explanation as to why some lines of enquiry were never carried out by the Mexican police.

Club Bongo had also declined to release its CCTV to the family.

He told senior assistant coroner for County Durham, Crispin Oliver, that the Mexican investigation should have included interviewing the nightclub staff as well as looking at the CCTV covering the club entrance.

He added that the police report handed to the coroner did not make clear whether a witness appeal was ever carried out and why there was no real effort to find the vehicle involved.

Recording a conclusion that Miss Bussey, was struck or run over by a motor vehicle or motor vehicles, Mr Oliver said: “All we really know is Alix was killed in an incident at a place which she wouldn’t normally have been for reasons we don’t know.”

Addressing the couple’s families, he added: “Obviously we do the best we can in cases like these. I thank you all for being here and the care and attention you have provided in the investigation.

“You all have my condolences. I hope now you can get a degree of closure.”

Miss Bussey, who lived with her family in Meadowfield, near Durham City, was a former Durham Johnston School pupil and had taught at Bowburn Infants School since 2012 after earlier graduating from Northumbria University.