Bar owner 'beaten by UK soldiers'

The bar owner said he had tried to stop soldiers attacking his staff

A bar owner has told a Cypriot court that "angry and wild" British soldiers punched him in a mass brawl at his pub in the resort of Ayia Napa.

Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis said he tried to stop the soldiers attacking bar staff but they turned on him.

He told Famagusta District Court he needed an eye operation after he was hit with a chair during the chaos.

The nine defendants from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers deny all charges.

The soldiers, who were based in Dhekelia, on the east of the island, face charges including grievous and actual bodily harm, malicious damage and breach of the peace.

If found guilty, they could serve up to five years in jail.

Fractured skull

The brawl broke out in the early hours of 2 February at the Flintstones-themed bar, the Bedrock Inn.

The servicemen had been celebrating completing tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and their imminent return to the UK.

The fight left the bar owner, a customer and two soldiers in need of hospital treatment. One soldier, Darren Mason, 28, from Manchester, suffered a fractured skull.

He came from behind with a chair and hit me with all his force - I was almost unconscious Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis Bar owner

The Bedrock Inn was "out of bounds" for military personnel because of previous violent incidents.

Mr Hadjiyiannis told the court Lance Corporal Daniel Brayne, 22, from Birmingham, had been the first to hit him.

"He hit me on the face and head with his fist," he said.

He also accused Lance Corporal William Sewell, 21, from Manchester of using a metal crutch to beat up a member of staff.

He said he could not forget the face of Damien Heywood, from Manchester.

"I would have been almost killed," he told the court.

"He came from behind with a chair and hit me with all his force. I was almost unconscious.

"I got on my feet and I just gave up, I wanted to just run away and save myself."

Eye operation

He went on to say he subsequently developed cataracts and required an operation to correct his vision.

"So for the rest of my life, I have to have plastic lenses in my eyes. I'm a father of four children," he said.

L/Cpl Sewell is charged with grievous bodily harm, malicious damage and breach of the peace.

L/Cpl David Ramage, 21, from Manchester, and L/Cpl Brayne face charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, along with malicious damage and breach of the peace.

L/Cpl Damien Heywood, 27, L/Cpl Andy Evans, 21, and Dean Rushton, 21, all from Manchester, Gary Farrell, 23, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Christopher Wenham, 19, from London, and Ashley Hughes, 19, from Birmingham, deny malicious damage and breach of the peace.

The trial continues.