Life-support groom carried onto flight to UK

The British bridegroom shot on his Caribbean honeymoon was being flown home today.

Ben Mullany was critically injured in an attack in Antigua which killed his new wife Catherine. He was taken from the intensive care unit at the island's Holberton Hospital on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance.

The 31-year-old physiotherapist, who is on life support with a fractured-skull and broken leg amid fears that he is brain dead, is returning to Britain in an air ambulance.

Police and officials from the British High Commission shielded Mr Mullany from view by holding white sheets either side of his stretcher for the 10ft walk to the ambulance. They left the hospital in a convoy of six vehicles at about midnight local time (5am BST) for the 10-minute drive to the airport.

His parents, Marilyn and Cynlais, were not at the hospital this morning, but spent 45 minutes at their son's bedside with members of the critical care flight team.

The Montreal-based Skyservice Air Ambulance is bringing Mr Mullany back to the UK via Wilmington-Delaware in the US, where it is expected to refuel.

It is thought the family of his doctor wife are bringing her body home separately. Dr Mullany was shot in the head during a suspected robbery in their cottage at the Cocos Hotel on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a local drifter who befriended the couple has been rearrested by police in Antigua following a tip-off, a source said.