British man in coma after mob attack

Competa, Spain A British holidaymaker was fighting for his life on Friday night after being thrown off a 25-foott high balcony by a Spanish mob.

Witnesses said Stephen Mallon, 49, who is in a coma, was set upon outside a bar in a village near Malaga where he owns a property.

His twin sons Carl and Peter, who were celebrating their 17th birthday, and three of their friends were also beaten up.

A friend of Mallon's said they were the victims of a "premeditated anti-British attack" by up to 30 men. He said locals in the village of Competa resented the English moving into the area.

The friend, who works with Mallon in his roofing business, said the group had left the bar after a "run-in" with locals but were ambushed by a gang armed with coshes, planks of wood and broken bottles.