“Harry wasn’t the type of person who could possibly be forgotten and I’m confident in that”
05:00, 20 Apr 2026Updated 06:22, 20 Apr 2026
Nicola Gardner, mum of Harry Begg, with a picture of her son.(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A mum is pleading for her son not to be forgotten over four months after he was killed in Tenerife. Harry Begg, 19, was killed in an alleged hit and run on the Spanish holiday island on December 1.
Hours before his funeral in Anfield on January 6, mum Nicola Gardner was told by Spanish authorities that Harry had been returned to the UK without his heart, which was being kept for further tests. Nicola, 50, from Kensington, told the ECHO a murder investigation was launched into Harry’s death by Spanish police.
In messages seen by the ECHO, Spanish investigators refer to the case as a “criminal death”. The ECHO understands no arrests have been made.
Nicola told the ECHO: “I don’t want Harry to be forgotten. I don’t want Harry to be brushed under the carpet. Harry wasn’t the type of person who could possibly be forgotten and I’m confident in that.”
Harry, from Kirkby, was travelling on an electric bike in Arona in the south of the island when he was allegedly mowed down by a driver who failed to stop. Harry suffered catastrophic head injuries and died at the scene.
Harry Begg, 19.(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Roadside tributes were left around a palm tree close to the scene. Flowers, candles and a Liverpool shirt were left, along with a message that read: “I love you forever wee bro.”
Harry left Liverpool for Tenerife 18 months before his death. His body was repatriated more than three weeks after he died, Nicola said. The coroner’s office for Liverpool and Wirral was notified about Harry’s death on New Year’s Eve, 30 days after the incident.
Harry’s funeral took place at All Saint’s Church in Anfield on Tuesday, January 6, the ECHO understands. He was buried at Anfield Cemetery two days later due to issues obtaining paperwork from Spanish authorities, Nicola said.
Nicola said: “I need to know why the Spanish coroner had Harry for over three weeks before he came over, and why they have his heart. It was a head injury. If they’d kept his brain, I could understand, but they’ve kept his heart.”
In a message seen by the ECHO in January, a Spanish investigator told Nicola that Harry’s heart “is being preserved pending further testing as the investigation progresses, given that it was a criminal death”. They added: “Regarding the investigation, we continue to analyse information daily, as we do every day.”
Harry Begg, from Kirkby, pictured aged 17. (Image: Liverpool Echo)
Harry was the youngest of four boys. He died weeks short of his 20th birthday. His brothers, Thomas, 21, Ted, 25, and Nicholas, 27, are “devastated”. Nicola said: “Thomas and Harry were like peas in a pod. You didn’t get one without the other. He’s broken.”
Speaking previously to the ECHO, Nicola said: “Harry was caring, lovely, dead funny, and if he loved you, he loved you. He was dead clever and witty. He had an answer for everything.”
Nicola had not seen Harry since he left for Tenerife 18 months ago. She said: “He went over for a holiday. He had a couple of mates staying there, and he loved it so much that he stayed.
“We always talked over Facetime, and about three days before it happened, he said to me ‘Just think mum, if you get a passport, in six hours you could be sat next to me.’
The TF-652 road in Arona, Tenerife.(Image: Google)
“Then I had to get an emergency passport. The first time I went, they wouldn’t let me see him and there was no translator. I had no idea what was going on.”
Nicola added: “I’m probably never going to be OK ever again. I don’t know how I’m supposed to be. Somebody knows something.”
The ECHO contacted the Guardia Civil and Merseyside Police for comment.