The wife of a North Belfast man who is locked up in a Spanish jail after an incident last weekend said their family’s dream holiday has turned into nightmare. John Paul Morgan from the Newington area is in a Spanish prison near Benidorm after an incident in the Spanish resort at the weekend.
His distraught partner Kerry has returned home to Belfast with her baby son Oisin in order to try and seek legal help here after days abroad trying to have her partner freed.
The couple were on holiday with Kerry’s family, the Fitzpatricks from the Falls Road when the incident happened. The group were only days into their summer holiday when Kerry’s brothers Daniel (25) and Martin (17) say they were attacked by a group of men as they were walking home from the beach to their apartment on Saturday evening.
The family said the same gang set upon them the following day and when other members came to their aid they were all attacked and then taken into police custody.
Martin Fitzpatrick was stabbed in the clash and left with wounds on his neck and side (see photo).
Kerry said she and John Paul had no idea what was happening when the incident took place.
“We had been out just the three of us and we stopped to get Oisin a drink, John Paul had gone in to get him one and when he came out we could see a big commotion in the street,” she said.
“We went to see what was happening and John Paul was trying to calm things down. Next thing we knew the police had come and he was arrested.”
Two of the Fitzpatrick family have since been released on bail in relation to Saturday’s bar brawl while three remain in police custody at an unknown facility near Benidorm after being formally charged, one of the three being the Newington 29 year old.
Kerry is calling on the British and Irish embassy to do all they can to help her family members still in a Spanish jail.
“My wee boy was in hysterics and so is my wee eight year old sister,” she said,
“They are traumatised by it and he keeps asking when are the bad men coming back. I had to come home because we couldn’t do anything over there and weren’t getting any help from anyone. I had to get the kids home because they were all so scared.
‘It’s just a nightmare and you just don’t know where to turn or what to do.
“We don’t even know where to go from here. I don’t even know what John Paul has been charged with. All I want is for my family to come home safely.
“I would please ask people to pray that they get home ok.”
