Shot groom flown home

NEWLYWED Ben Mullany, who was left in a coma after a shooting in Antigua in which his doctor wife was killed, was flown back home to Wales yesterday.

The 31-year-old physiotherapist, who has been in intensive care since being shot in the neck, was flying by air ambulance to the US for refuelling before heading to Britain, reports said.

His wife Catherine, 31, died when the pair were attacked in their hotel bungalow in what media reports initially said was a botched robbery. The couple were at the end of their honeymoon after a wedding in south Wales on July 12.

A senior surgeon at the hospital in Antigua said Mullany’s prognosis was “poor”, the BBC reported.

His parents, who flew to Antigua to be with him after Sunday’s shooting, believe he will have a better chance of surviving if he returns to Britain.

Local police have been questioning six suspects, but the prime minister Baldwin Spencer has called for British police help.

Spencer has blamed the US and Britain for deporting criminals back to Antigua, fuelling the crime rate.

He said the deportees had “developed” as criminals while staying in these countries. The Home Office said Britain had deported nine criminals to Antigua and Barbuda since 2006.