Honeymoon gun attack victim flown back to UK by air ambulance

Published on Saturday 2 August 2008 11:07

A BRITISH newlywed left fighting for his life after being shot on his Caribbean honeymoon in a suspected bungled robbery which left his wife dead, flew back to the UK today, airport authorities confirmed.

Benjamin Mullany, who has a fractured skull and a bullet lodged in the back of his head, arrived home from Antigua by air ambulance early this morning.

His flight landed at Cardiff Airport at 3.40am and was being transferred to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

The body of his murdered bride Catherine Mullany was being brought back to the UK on a separate flight, accompanied by her parents.

Mr Mullany's flight was delayed by several hours due to "refuelling difficulties", an airport spokeswoman said.

Mr Mullany and his doctor wife, both from South Wales, were shot in an attack at the Cocos Hotel on the Caribbean island on Sunday morning. The 31-year-old physiotherapist, who is feared to be brain dead, may not know that his wife died instantly.

His parents, Marilyn and Cynlais, requested the transfer from the intensive care unit at the island's Holberton Hospital.

The unit at Holberton Hospital is a run-down single-storey white building on a hillside overlooking St John's, with wooden slats over its windows.

Accompanied by a police escort, the ambulance was driven past media waiting outside the accident and emergency department to a different entrance.

Alison Gallagher, senior nurse manager at the hospital, gave a statement on behalf of the Abertawe Bro Margannwg University NHS Trust.

She said: "We have now received Mr Ben Mullany at our intensive care unit at Morriston Hospital."