Fiancée jets in to be at stricken Smeaton's bedside

Published on Saturday 11 October 2008 20:18

THE fiancée of Glasgow Airport car bomb hero John Smeaton flew in from the US yesterday to be by his hospital bedside after he suffered a near-fatal asthma attack.

Smeaton was rushed to intensive care on Thursday night after he collapsed at home with breathing difficulties.

The incident came as two men accused of the airport attack went on trial.

His American fiance Christy MacPhedran, 32, was in New York when he was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, but she arrived in Glasgow yesterday morning and went straight to the hospital to visit him. "I'm worried sick," she said.

Smeaton's father Iain, 67, said he and his wife were "very relieved" to see their son's fiance.

He said: "Christy arrived and we went straight to the hospital, and she was able to see John straight away. He is on a ventilator, so he wasn't able to speak with all the tubes. He's also sedated, but you could see he was pleased to see her.

"We don't know how long he will be in hospital but we hope he will recover quickly."

Smeaton had been feeling ill for several days at home with his parents in Erskine, Renfrewshire, and was said to be gasping for breath and unable to walk. After waking up in the night, he collapsed and was taken to hospital and put on a ventilator. He is now in a stable condition but remains in intensive care.

Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammed Asha, 28, went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court, south-east London, on Thursday accused of attempting to murder hundreds of people with car bombs in London and Glasgow.

Smeaton is in the hospital where Abdulla was working as a junior house officer in general surgery at the time of the airport attack. The former airport worker, who recently revealed he was quitting Scotland for a new life in the US, became an overnight celebrity after the incident. His efforts to foil the attack, followed by comments in a TV interview broadcast worldwide afterwards, catapulted him to fame. Now known by his nickname, Smeato, he has been feted from London to New York, mingling with top politicians and celebrities at glitzy bashes.