Groom's life support expected to be turned off after Antigua shooting

Doctors in Antigua are today expected to decide whether to turn off a life support machine keeping alive the husband of a British bride murdered on her honeymoon.

A surgeon has said Benjamin Mullany was left brain dead by a bullet lodged in his head.

The 31-year-old is in an intensive care unit at Holberton Hospital in the island's capital, St John's, but is not expected to recover.

His wife Catherine, 31, a doctor from Wales, whom he married on 12 July, was killed at a holiday cottage at Cocos Hotel on Sunday on the last day of their honeymoon.

Reports suggest Dr Mullany was forced to watch as her husband was beaten before she was shot dead.

Mr Mullany's parents flew to the Caribbean island yesterday and are expected to return to his bedside for the last time today.

Dr Fidel Fernandez, a surgeon at the hospital, said: "Mr Mullany is brain dead - there is no activity. He is on a ventilator. There is no chance of survival, it is very, very sad."

Three men were being held over the shootings, believed to be carried out by robbers. Two hotel security guards have also been questioned.

Police confirmed Mr Mullany tried to fight off the robbers.

Gary Nelson, the island's Canadian police commissioner, said: "It appears there was a struggle but it was over very quickly."

It is thought the robbers shot Mr Mullany first, before a violent struggle. He was then beaten with a bat and left with a fractured skull and leg, spinal cord injuries and brain haemorrhaging.

Other guests heard Dr Mullany screaming for help before the first shot was fired, injuring her husband. She was heard shouting "Help me, please" just before she was killed. The hospital doctor, who was due to start work as a GP a week today, died instantly from a single shot to the back of her head.

The killers are then thought to have fired a third bullet before making off with some of the couple's possessions.

Lorraine Martin-Bell, 32, and her husband Steve, from Devon, were in a nearby cottage. She told police she heard a scream and a sound like music at about 4.45am but did not take it seriously.

She said: "We secured our door, and I heard an explosion that sounded like a gunshot. Immediately after I heard a female scream louder than before.

"Then shortly after, I heard another explosion and a female voice shouted 'Help me, please' and then everything went really quiet."

Mr Mullany's parents, Marilyn and Cynlais, and his wife's parents, Rachel and David Bowen, have visited the intensive care unit.

Mr Nelson, who was brought in this year to improve the troubled Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda, said: "I don't want to get into the specifics of the investigation which might compromise what we are doing."