Dad killed by gang of armed yobs as he tried to save sons
‘Unprovoked attack’
A SCOTS father was thrown to his death as he tried to protect his teenage sons from being attacked by a mob of 30 yobs, an inquest heard yesterday.
Stephen Mallon, 49, was killed in front of his children near their Costa del Sol holiday villa during the unprovoked assault by a Spanish gang armed with knuckledusters and metal bars.
The Glasgow-born roofer was severely beaten and pushed off a 16ft balcony minutes after leaving a bar, where he had enjoyed a meal to celebrate the 17th birthday of his twin sons.
In a frenzy of unrelenting violence, the gang kicked Mr Mallon as he lay dying on the floor and tried to push over the ambulance in which he was treated.
An inquest is finally taking place eight years after the death of Mr Mallon – who had been living in Bournemouth – following lengthy Spanish court proceedings.
There were gasps and tears in the public gallery at Bournemouth Coroner’s Court yesterday as details of the attack in June 2009 were read out.
Mr Mallon’s daughter Jennifer, 27, a university graduate, tearfully revealed that her brothers Peter and Carl, who saw their father die and were also attacked, suffer posttraumatic stress disorder.
Her mother, Theresa, 50, can barely sleep for more than three hours a night because of horrifying nightmares and panic attacks, she told the inquest.
The attack in Competa, near Malaga, was apparently sparked by anti-British feeling among local Spanish yobs.
The 2014 trial in Spain ruled it was unprovoked, despite claims one of Mr Mallon’s sons had looked at a local girl ‘the wrong way’. Yesterday, coroner Rachael Griffin concluded the inquest, meaning Mr Mallon’s body can finally be released from the British mortuary where it has been kept for eight years.
The family have been unable to arrange a funeral because Spanish court proceedings were still active. Mrs Mallon said Spanish authorities waited 11 months to tell them the trial and appeals process had finally come to an end.
Lashing out at the ‘inhumane delay’ endured by the family, she said: ‘We have been unable to grieve and even begin to move forward in coping with the trauma of Steve’s killing and the massive emotional loss we have suffered.’ Jennifer Mallon told the inquest: ‘The violence my brothers and dad experienced in this unprovoked attack just took them by shock.
‘My brothers are only here today because they were able to fight for their lives. My dad tried to save them.
‘For my brothers it’s been impossible to recover. You lose your faith in humanity. We have spent a lot of time trying to imagine how they could have attacked with such violence. We all get terrible nightmares and panic attacks.’
The mob, led by Jose Jimenez Martin, were armed with knuckledusters, koshes, metal bars from parasols, bricks, belts, flower pots and bottles.
Mr Mallon’s sons suffered several broken bones, cuts and bruises. Mr Mallon was hit on the head with a bottle before being shoved off a balcony. He suffered fatal head injuries and spent 11 days in a coma before he died at Carlos Haya Hospital in Malaga.
In 2014 Jimenez Martin, who pushed Mr Mallon off the ledge, was jailed for three years after being convicted of severe negligent homicide.
Detective Inspector Simon Huxter, of Dorset Police, told yesterday’s hearing: ‘They were being attacked by a large, angry, very violent mob.
‘They were clearly significantly outnumbered.’
Mr Huxter said Mr Mallon had 18 injuries to his body and head. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from a brain haemorrhage.
Reaching a conclusion of unlawful killing, the coroner told the family: ‘I am sorry not only for your loss but for the nature in which that loss occurred and the time it has taken to get to this stage.’