A Cornish resort that has become notorious for riotous parties by drunken public school pupils was yesterday coming to terms with its first tragedy.

A sixth-former from Radley College in Oxfordshire died on the eve of his birthday after falling from a cliff at Polzeath. The body of George Frewer was found floating in the sea at Polzeath early on Tuesday, the day that he was due to turn 17.

He is believed to have fallen from a slippery path as he made his way back to the apartment at the Oystercatcher pub that he had rented with a group of schoolmates.

Friends said yesterday that George had wandered off on his own after a row with a girlfriend. His body was spotted in the sea at Tristram Cove by a holidaymaker and recovered by the inshore lifeboat.

The teenager’s death follows a week during which Rock and the surrounding villages have been plagued by trouble from boisterous youngsters. There have been complaints of vandalism, fighting and drunkenness and a temporary police station at Polzeath had its windows smashed.

Despite attempts by the local authority and police to ban drinking on the beach, residents complain of noisy late night parties and bad behaviour, including youngsters defecating in their front gardens and leaving condoms draped on their rose bushes.

The eight apartments at the Oystercatcher each sleep up to eight people and are believed to have been block booked by sixth-form pupils from Radley College, a £24,000-a-year boarding school in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

Police said the death of the teenager, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was not being treated as suspicious.

In a statement released last night the school said: “The school is shocked and saddened to hear of the death of George Frewer and our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.”

Angus McPhail, the school’s head-master, known as the Warden, was abroad and unaware of the tragedy.

In previous years he has written to parents urging them not to allow their children to go on holiday to North Cornwall without adult supervision.

Many Radley parents have holiday homes in the area and allow their children to invite their friends for the summer. Those who don’t have houses camp or rent holiday flats. Most of the campsites now insist that young people are supervised by an adult and agree to be in their tents by 11.30pm. Police have become so concerned at the annual influx that two officers are tasked solely with patrolling the beachfront between 10pm and 3am. They have special powers to issue “dispersal orders” to break up beach parties.

Last year the order was used to ban 274 teenagers from Polzeath for 24 hours. Local traders confiscated more than 400 fake ID cards from underage drinkers in a month.

Teenagers who ignore the orders can be arrested with a maximum penalty of three months in prison and a £2,500 fine.

Beach barbecues were banned after anything wooden or flammable within reach of the beach came under threat.

For many of the children it is the first time they have been off the leash, enjoying a holiday away from their parents. The vast majority are well behaved but residents complain that drinking and cannabis smoking is rife.

Martin Taylor, the owner of a camp-site, said parents were partly to blame. He said: “Ninety per cent of them are fine young people but when they drink they seem to change.”

Sloane-on-Sea

–– Each year thousands of public schoolchildren visit Rock, Polzeath and Daymer Bay in north Cornwall, dubbed “Kensington-on-Sea” and “Sloane-on-Sea”

–– July is for pupils from Wycombe Abbey, Downe House, Bedales, Harrow and Marlborough, while in August pupils from Eton, Stowe and Westminster descend

–– Princes William and Harry took a holiday there after their exams

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