Help keep my brother home

Update to the story - all information following my original plea for “help get my brother home” please read all as it is all dated and updated.

14.08.2023 - Please help. Please help get my brother home. We need every bit of help we can. This to us is like something you read in the news, watch on the tv, it is not something that you would ever think would happen to your own, it is our living nightmare and we need every bit of help you can give us.

We went to Cyprus to get married 12.08.23 was our wedding date, something which should have been the happiest 2 weeks of our life which turned in to our worst nightmare. No words can describe it. My brother didn’t make my wedding, instead he spent 5 nights in a prison cell on he’s own. Imagine saving for 2 years to watch your sister get married and this happening to you. I wasn’t going to go ahead with the wedding I asked my wedding planner to cancel the day, we flew 120 people to Cyprus to watch us say I do but how could I do it without my baby brother. It was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life the only reason we got married still was solely down to the fact that my 2 little girls came here to watch there mummy and daddy get married and we went ahead for them because i couldn’t break there little hearts, although mine was already broken. The day i had saved and dreamt of for so long I spent with a broken heart. My poor baby brother words can’t even begin to describe the heartache I felt I can’t even imagine how he felt in that cell on his sisters wedding day nothing will ever compare. Utter heartache.

A large group from my wedding party were pestered in to a nightclub after drinking on bar street. The security of the club were really aggressive & there was an altercation between some of the group & security & this lead to multiple people in our group getting seriously injured due to the security using weapons against them - such as CS gas, koshes, metal bars. This nightclub is well known for this behaviour, if only we read the reviews before going - these reviews show that this is a regular occurrence and they are NOT the first people this has happened to and scarily will not be the last.

My brother being who he is came out of the night club - (this is a very important part so please note) he was NOT a part of the brawl & had started to walk away up the street.

He then saw and heard family members being attacked & went to help.

This is what most people would do if this was happening to someone they knew!

He was then arrested. He was taken to the police station and gave a statement under the influence of alcohol, without a lawyer present with no translator, who knows what they’ve got him to say!!! They then told him he has hurt a man and this man was a police officer- at no given point did this man identify himself as the police and to my brothers knowledge it was all security at the nightclub hurting family & friends. Why would he attack the police in a country he’s been to before, knows and loves? Police in this country carry guns! Which he knows they are allowed to use!!! He isn’t that stupid! Young but not stupid. Since then we have found out he is not a police officer but in-fact a special forces officer, although tourists wouldn’t know the difference as they are all dressed in similar clothes & impossible to tell the difference especially on a night out at 3am after a full day drinking alcohol. The man in question has opened a civil case against my brother for a payout of €40,000 this person is asking for compensation for injuries he says have been received by my brother. Injuries that it is impossible for him to have given considering he was NOT apart of this brawl. This is not even the start of how crazy this is. The story goes on. A payout of this sum I mean who even has that sort of money? We are a working family and we get by, but 40k. We don’t even know where to start. This pay out is in addition to £4,000 bail we paid, £7000 lawyer fees (yet more to come)

My brother is the most kind hearted, genuine loveliest man you will ever come across. Anyone who’s come across him or knows him will tell you that. He has NEVER been in trouble before with the police, NEVER been arrested and we are beyond broken this has happened to him and our family, he doesn’t deserve this.

He has had his British passport detained. He has no income as he is unable to work because they have kept him, he is paying for his cost of living to stay out there in debt. It’s beyond disgusting. It seems the only way we get him home is to pay - it may seem crazy to some but he’s in a foreign country scared, we have tried to contact everyone you would think would help, in advise, his legal rights etc, but nothing. No help. No advice for a British citizen detained in a foreign country scared, petrified in fact. 25 years of age. So we come to you, our family, our friends, their family their friends, you with a brother just like me and so on, the good old British people who come together when needed- better than anyone and stand by our own. God forbid this happened to you and your family, your friend - this is utter heartache we are broken. We have a growing concern for the welfare of my brother - our grandad is dying and we need home. There is so much more to come with this story it is a never ending nightmare but right now before we can do anything else we need to try find the money, right now we need him home, we need him back with his family, back where he belongs with the people who love him. He is no criminal, he has never even been arrested before in his life. We need every bit of help we can towards these costs, we have had to leave the country without him and he does not deserve this we just need him home. My kind, gentle, loving little brother. Please help me get him home. Please. Anything at all helps whether it’s a donation of 50p, £1, £2, £5 or £10! Or even just a share to your social media account. Everything and anything you do to help is more than enough, more than what our own government is doing for us. The more help we get from people the better chance we have of getting him home. I cannot tell you how appreciative me and my family are for everyone who’s helped us so far and for those who continue to help us. We will be forever in your debt.

Update- 15.09.2023 - today my brother has been to see another lawyer who was highly recommended to him. During this meeting we found out that our current lawyer was missing vital details of the events of that night, my brother was arrested for carrying no ID, then taken to the police station where he was interviewed under the influence of alcohol with no interpreter present. The lawyer looked over the case and advised differently to the original paid lawyer- all of the above was illegal, his questioning in interview were nothing to do with his arrest and questioning lead to a confession with no interpreter present. They held him illegally for 5 days. The new lawyer give no mention of paying €40,000 as a “pay off” to the man in question. This is all we was told for weeks. My brother has decided to terminate the contract from the original lawyer who never provided any of the above in 4 weeks. This new lawyer looked over this case and tore it apart in 40 minutes to see so many wrongs. My brother pursuits in this new lawyers representation and a further £5000.00 was paid for the new lawyer.

18.09.2023 - attended court today - adjourned until tomorrow as prosecution have not prepared for a not guilty plea. Prosecution asked for 10 days, judge has provided 24 hours.

19.09.2023 - attended court today - prosecution not willing to lift bail conditions (current conditions are detainment of passport and on the stop list to not leave cuprus) defence lawyer advised it is not within my brothers nor anyone’s best interest to remain in the country, he’s in debt and has no funds for living and there’s too many loop holes. The judge has said he will look briefly over the case and adjourn until morning.

20.09.2023 - attended court today - no plea has been granted by the judge and court has been adjourned again with a temp date of may 2024. The judge has lifted bail conditions which means return of passport but a sum of money for a bail in the UK of £15,000. Bail fees have been lent and paid.

20.09.2023 - my brother boarded his flight from Cyprus to Manchester airport and is now back on British soil safe and well

25.09.2023 - the case remains open until trial, although we have him home where he belongs the case is pending trial. At the moment we know nothing further and our current lawyer in Cyprus will do his job over there and update is in due course. It’s all still up in the air. Further legal fees will still be due but we are hoping for a positive outcome.

We can now evidently see how corrupt the above all is, the police, even possibly certain lawyers but having said that we also believe that the Cypriot legal process through the courts is fair and the judges and those higher up are NOT corrupt. Hence the outcome above. My belief is the judge has seen what the new lawyer has seen. A shambles.

This is ruining our lives and it continues -

The monies paid out -

£7,000 first lawyer fees

£4,000 first bail fees

£5,000 new lawyer fees

£15,000 second bail fees

£1,000 flat rental in Cyprus

£1,000 car rental Cyprus - this was a MUST as first bail conditions meant he had to sign at the police station 4 times a week and taxis to and from were so expensive.

the above totals to £33,000

The above does NOT include- petrol or food spent over the last 7 weeks. This also doesn’t include go fund me fees (so far £600) they will be aprox £1000 if we reach our much needed target. It doesn’t include legal fees still due or a pay out to close the civil case. It doesn’t include his further flight home. It doesn’t include his debt at home after been self employed and unable to pay bills. We understand this is a lot of money we are living in this debt, and we would only hope that people read this story and help us. One day this story may help you.

We were in touch with the embassy throughout but they couldn’t help nor advise. They never told us that legal aid could be available for my brother nor did they advise that the listed lawyers on the gov website were not recommendations, they were none other than English speaking lawyers available in the country. The embassy have admitted that they were no mention of legal aid nor did my brother receive a detainee arrest pack. If the embassy would have listened to us and provided the information from the start - information that was VITAL to my family and listened to our questions and queries considering we was in an utter heartbroken mess whilst my brother was detained in a foreign cell. Then he would have been kept no longer than 24 hours, he would have made my wedding and these sums of money could have been kept minimum.

As a family we would like to take this opportunity to thank every single person for there kind donations so far, those people who have played our family raffles to raise money, the people who have shared this page we are overwhelmed by people’s generosity it’s simply amazing and we just hope people continue to help support us and help this go away for our family . God forbid you, your family or your friends was ever in this position it’s only those you read in the paper or on the news, never expect it to happen to you, ever, you may read and one day it could be you and it may help you remember our story and help you. This page has reached people that have had the same experience, in the same place (I have endless messages) yet no one knows about it? Our hope is that not only we achieve this target but we do our upmost best to make sure that our living nightmare story is told and it prevents this happening to anyone EVER again.

Thank you for reading xx