A family friend of the late Conor Spraggs is set to fight her fears in a fundraising challenge to help set up a foundation in his honour.

Emma Hart, 28, from Stevenage, is climbing London’s O2 on February 23 to raise money and help the Spraggs family set up the Conor Spraggs Foundation.

Conor, also from Stevenage, died on August 12 last year in a street brawl in Ibiza while on holiday, aged 23, just hours before he was due to fly home.

Emma, who is friends with one of Conor’s sisters, will now take on the challenge in his memory.

“I wanted to help raise money to start up the Conor Spraggs Foundation,” she said.

“I know just how much it’s broken the whole family’s hearts.

“I want to help. I want to try to make a positive out of such a heartbreaking tragedy.”

Conor was a pupil at Fairlands Primary School and The Thomas Alleyne Academy in Stevenage, and went on to work with luxury furniture.

The Spraggs family are hoping to set up the foundation as a registered charity to help other families bring back the bodies of loved ones who have lost their lives abroad.

“The cost of repatriating a body is extortionate. For us it was £6,000, but I have heard people paying up to £12,000,” said Conor’s mum Lisa back in October.

“We have to have a minimum of £5,000 to register as a charity. We have to do it soon, while it’s still fresh in people’s minds.

“He was my best friend and his death will always be a waste, but the foundation keeps him with us. He was such a giving person and the foundation will represent who he was.”

By climbing the 02, which stands at a height of 52 metres, Emma will be facing one of her biggest fears.

“I am petrified of heights, but as a new year is beginning I wanted to challenge myself,” she said.

“I want to face fears and to know it was just that, a fear.”

Emma has already reached her fundraising target, but is hoping to raise even more money.

She told the Comet: “I was hoping to raise £500, but I have reached that target.

“Now it’s just going to be more and it’s amazing.”

To donate to Emma’s cause visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/emma-hart-2.