14/5/2004

A police officer from South Wales has died after falling from the window of his hotel room in New York.

34-year old Rhydian Phillips, a detective based at Bridgend, was on a rugby tour in New York with the South Wales Police XV and had arrived in New York the previous day.

American police said Mr Phillips fell 200ft from the Milford Plaza Hotel in midtown Manhattan whilst admiring the view.

"The constable had opened the window in his room to get a better daytime panorama of the city."He was in awe of the buildings around him and he fell," said a police spokesman.