A devastated Scottish mum has revealed her fiancé took his own life on a family holiday in Spain just hours before the first anniversary of their baby daughter’s sudden death.
Robert Davidson, 37, fell from the sixth-floor balcony of their hotel in Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol late on Tuesday 3 February 2026. The tragedy struck the night before the one-year anniversary of seven-week-old Hollie Davidson’s death from sudden infant death syndrome.
The Night Everything Changed
Daniella Robb had booked the sunshine break to escape the pain of the looming anniversary. The family from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, arrived in Spain hoping warmer days would ease their grief.
Instead, the holiday became the setting for unimaginable loss.
Robert fell from the balcony of the MS Amaragua Hotel around 11pm. Spanish police and paramedics rushed to the scene but could not save him. Officers are treating the death as suicide with no third-party involvement.
“He was struggling so much with the anniversary coming up,” Daniella told the Sunday Mail. “We thought getting away would help. I never imagined I would lose him too.”
Baby Hollie’s Short Life
Hollie Davidson was born healthy in December 2024. Just seven weeks later, on 4 February 2025, Daniella found her lifeless in her cot.
The sudden infant death syndrome diagnosis shattered the family. Robert, already a devoted dad to Daniella’s older children, was utterly broken by the loss of the daughter he called “my little princess”.
Friends say he never recovered from that February morning.
- He stopped sleeping properly
- He visited Hollie’s grave almost daily
- He kept her tiny handprints on the fridge
- He counted down the days to the anniversary with dread
A Father’s Silent Battle
Those closest to Robert noticed the change in recent weeks.
“He would sit and stare at Hollie’s photos for hours,” one friend said. “He blamed himself even though doctors said there was nothing anyone could have done.”
The holiday was meant to be a circuit-breaker. Family members say Robert seemed lighter when they arrived in Spain, playing with the kids on the beach and planning days out.
But on the evening of 3 February, the weight became too much.
Daniella was putting the children to bed when Robert stepped onto the balcony for air. Minutes later he was gone.
The Family Left Behind
Daniella now faces raising her children alone while carrying double grief.
“First I lost my baby girl, now I’ve lost my soulmate,” she said through tears. “How do you explain to kids that both their sister and their dad are gone within a year?”
A GoFundMe page set up by friends has already raised more than £15,000 to help the family. Messages of heartbreak have flooded social media from across Scotland.
One neighbour wrote: “Robert was the kindest man. He would do anything for anyone. This disease of grief has taken too much from this family.”
When Grief Becomes Dangerous
Mental health experts say the anniversary of a traumatic loss is one of the highest-risk periods for suicide.
“The brain replays the trauma in excruciating detail,” explains Dr Sarah Johnson from the Scottish Association for Mental Health. “For parents who have lost children, the pain can feel exactly the same as the day it happened.”
Warning signs include:
- Talking about feeling trapped or being a burden
- Withdrawing from family and friends
- Giving away prized possessions
- Sudden mood swings between despair and calm
Robert had shown several of these signs in the weeks before the holiday, but loved ones say he always insisted he was “fine”.
The tragedy has reignited calls for better mental health support specifically for bereaved parents, particularly fathers who often suffer in silence.
Daniella wants her story to help others. “If you’re hurting this much, please tell someone,” she says. “Robert thought he was protecting us by hiding his pain. He wasn’t. We would have done anything to save him.”
The family plans to bring Robert home to Hamilton this week. He will be laid to rest close to his daughter Hollie.
Two lives cut tragically short. One family forever broken.
If you have been affected by this story, the Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123 or at samaritans.org. In Spain, call 024 for suicide prevention support.
What do you think about the silent crisis of parental grief? Have we failed fathers like Robert? Share your thoughts below.
