Josh Darcy: Ibiza injury 'could have been result of attack'

Josh Darcy with his sister and mother

Lawyers acting on behalf a British man who is "lucky to be alive" after he was injured in Ibiza will ask for a criminal case to be reopened.

The firm, Abogados Ibiza, believes Josh Darcy, 23, could have suffered a severe head injury after being attacked in San Antonio on 11 June.

A Spanish judge provisionally closed the case, ruling the injury probably resulted from an accidental fall.

An appeal against the decision will be lodged in the next 10 days.

Mr Darcy, from Stretham, Cambridgeshire, was on the second day of a three-month stint on the island when he was injured.

He suffered head fractures and swelling on the brain, and his stepmother Cat Darcy said his family were warned he might not "pull through".

Josh Darcy cannot remember how he was injured

Mr Darcy spent two-and-a-half weeks in an induced coma in hospital before he was flown back by air ambulance to the UK, where he was treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Ms Darcy said he was now back home but his cognitive skills had been affected, he had short-term memory loss and no peripheral vision.

She added that Mr Darcy, who cannot remember the incident, was "reliant on family and friends to pick him up and take him somewhere" because he cannot drive or work.

The judge on the Spanish island ruled the criminal case would be provisionally closed and ordered a stay of proceedings, meaning further investigations would not take place.

Josh Darcy is unable to work or drive as a result of his injuries

However, Francisco Lorente, from the law firm, said statements from doctors suggested Mr Darcy's injuries were "consistent with an attack, an aggression, not with a bad fall".

He added that at the time there were "some contradictions in the statements".

If the appeal is successful, it will allow for more investigation to be done and witnesses to be cross-examined.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "Our staff are assisting a British man and his family after an incident in San Antonio in June 2018 and are in touch with the Spanish authorities."