A Blackwood man holidaying in Ibiza has been left in critical condition after he was reportedly attacked by an English football fan.
James Hallett, 25, was found unconscious in the street with severe head injuries in the early morning of Monday, June 13 and was later flown to University Hospital Son Espases in Majorca, where he is currently being treated.
The fitness enthusiast and football fan was said to have been attacked by a man from Barnsley, Yorkshire.
Mr Hallett’s sister Lauren, a travel agent, said: “We don’t know what happened – all we’ve been told is that a boy from Barnsley wearing a blue top was involved.
“There was a group of them but only one attacked James.
“We are all naturally worried sick – it is early days and we don’t know which way it will go.
“We are staying at James’ bedside and waiting to hear what the doctors have to tell us.”
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British national who was taken to hospital in Palma on June 13.
“We will remain in contact with the hospital and local authorities.”
Quite disgraceful that the Welsh media are reporting this as an English football fan attacking an innocent Welshman. All other non Welsh reports simply state the facts, that one young man was attacked by somebody wearing a blue shirt in Ibiza for no apparent reason, a disgusting cowardly attack on an innocent person, but the Welsh media are trying to make this out to be English football hooligan violence against the Welsh, he was not reportedly attack by an English fan, he was attacked by another man who was reported to be from Barnsley.
Its called ‘jumping to conclusions’ and it happens because that sells news. Several years I published the full transcript of an article from a local newspaper from 1922. This news story was about a massive fire in the town that destroyed several buildings which were sited where the cenotaph is today.
My attention had been drawn to this story by the late Glyn Jones, author of ‘Cronicl Caerffili’, who said that apart from being interesting historically the story was a fine piece of journalism. The facts were laid out and statements taken from various individuals in a style very different from today’s news.
The report was taken from newspaper ‘The Caerphilly Journal’ 2nd December 1922, p.5, column 5, alternatively it can be read in Caerphily Local History Society Journal No. 8.