DEVASTATED Caren Livesey spoke to her boyfriend by phone just three hours before he plunged to his death with a work colleague from an eighth-floor hotel window.

Daniel Howarth-Hynes and Graeme Lynch, both 22, plummeted 100 feet at about 6.30am on Saturday from an open window at the Renaissance Hotel in Manchester city centre.

Detectives confirmed that the double-deaths, were a tragic accident. Witnesses say the men, friends from Westleigh High School days, were having a laugh bouncing on a bed when they over-balanced and fell through the window.

Daniel, who lived with Caren at Shelley Street, and Graeme, from Minehead Avenue, both Leigh, were salesmen working for the Surrey-based Combined Insurance Company of America. They were visiting the hotel for a convention.

They were buried alongside each other at Howe Bridge Cemetery on Thursday after a service at St Paul's, Westleigh conducted by the vicar, Rev Terence Hargreaves-Stead.

Det Ch Insp Janet Jones said: "This has been a very tragic accident arising from nothing more than horseplay which resulted in Graeme and Daniel falling to their deaths through an open window situated on the eighth floor of the hotel. "The sympathies of the investigating team go to the families of Graeme and Daniel. It is a tragedy, the depth of which none of us can comprehend."

Graeme's father spoke of his family's heartache, adding: "He was a lovely lad. We are all devastated."

And Caren, 21, who moved with Daniel to Shelley Street three month ago, said her boyfriend called her from the hotel at 3am on Saturday.

Other hotel guests raised the alarm after the two men fell from the window of the four star hotel on Blackfriars Street, Manchester.

Emergency services rushed to the scene but both men - who were found lying side by side - died at the scene.

A neighbour of Daniel, Julie Gregson, said: "It's a terrible tragedy. He was a really nice lad."

And a neighbour of Graeme's in Minehead Avenue said: "He was a lovely lad. When he was younger, he used to come round collecting the milk money."

Heart-broken relatives of Daniel and Graeme visited the scene of the tragedy on Sunday to lay flowers in the hotel's reception.

Hotel bosses spoke of the staff's anguish at the two young men's deaths.

Jeff Strachan, director of sales, said: "Obviously everybody here at the hotel is in a very sombre mood.

"This is a complete tragedy. What has happened was terrible and our thoughts are with the families."

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