Benidorm bouncer's punch fractures British father-of-two's skull

A holidaymaker was left fighting for life in intensive care after being punched by a bouncer in Benidorm – just nine days after getting engaged.

Andrew Frazer, 43 had proposed to his long term partner Carrie Howard, 48, after decorating their home with balloons, candles and petals in a romantic gesture on November 5

But their happiness turned to heartbreak nine days later when he went on a lads' break to Spain and was floored by the doorman with a single punch in an alleged unprovoked attack.

His condition deteriorated after initial treatment and he had to undergo urgent surgery on Tuesday night to have part of his skull cut away to relieve swelling on his brain.

Andrew of St Helens, Merseyside, who works as a ramp agent for DHL at Liverpool John Lennon Airport is having to stay in hospital in Alicante until his skull can be reattached.

His family and friends hope to then get him flown back from Spain to Liverpool on a medical flight which is expected to cost up to £30,000.

They have launched a gofundme appeal to raise the cash, and have already collected nearly £14,000 towards the mercy flight from more than 400 donations.

Carrie, a cleaning supervisor who has 17-year-old twin children Harry and Poppy, flew out to Spain on Saturday to be at his bedside.

Describing her joy at their engagement on November 5, after ten years together, she said: 'He decorated the house with balloons, candles and petals as a surprise for when I came home from work.

'Then he got down on one knee to propose. I accepted and my daughter filmed it as well. It went from a really happy day when he asked me to marry him, and now we have got this.

'Andy is a family man who is devoted to me and his stepchildren. He loves my kids like they are his. He hardly ever drinks. He is just a nice person who gets on well with everybody.

'All of his colleagues at work say he is a really nice guy, and they are devastated by what has happened. It has been a massive shock. We just want to get him back home.'

Andrew had flown out to Spain with his brother Ian and four other friends to attend Europe's largest fancy dress party in Benidorm last Thursday.

He was originally not planning to go due to just getting engaged, but decided to fly out at the last minute after someone else dropped out

The group who were also celebrating the birthdays of Ian and another friend arrived on Wednesday last week, and went out in the evening.

Ian said that he had been three or four times previously to Benidorm's fancy dress festival which follows on from the Spanish resort's annual Fiesta, and regularly attracts 20,000 visitors.

He said: 'Some of the lads had not been to Benidorm before so we took them to a couple of places, and landed up in this bar.

'We were leaving at around 1.30am. Andrew was outside waiting for us in the road and we were following him out.

'He was on the kerb edge of the footpath, and this bouncer was stood in front of him and in his face.

'My brother was looking over his shoulder to see when we were coming out, and this guy just punched him and knocked him out.

'He fell backwards and hit his head on the road because he was out cold. I ran over and held his head.

'A British nurse who was walking past with her husband rushed to help and propped his head up. She was horrified by what had happened and stayed with us.

'The next few minutes were a bit of a blur until the ambulance and police arrived.

'I was concentrating on my brother, and saw the police were talking to the bouncer, but in a casual manner.

'A police officer said to me, 'Do you want to press charges?', and I said: 'Mate, I am concentrating on my brother.'

'My mate asked them to have a look at the CCTV on the building, but the policeman turned round and said, 'It's broke'.

'Andrew was unconscious for several minutes, but it seemed like an age. The paramedics put him in an ambulance on a stretcher and took him to hospital.

'One friend went with him while I ran back to our apartment to get his passport. Then I caught a taxi to the hospital.

'Our friend was talking to reception at the hospital for five or ten minutes to get him signed in, and was then shown to a room where he was.

'A nurse had him bent over and was putting seven staples into this nasty wound in the back of his head. There were no scans or anything.'

After paying a 200 euro fee to the private clinic, Ian took his brother back to their apartment in the taxi, where he slept on a sofa bed.

Ian added: 'The next morning he woke up and I told him I was going out for fresh air, and he replied, 'I'm OK, I'm alright'.

'I then asked him his name and he gave the same reply. Every time he was asked a question, he said the same words and nothing else.

'He managed to get up and took his clothes off before going back to sleep. After that, he woke up and was slurring his words, and he spend the rest of the day sleeping. I though he was just concussed.

'We were due to fly home on Saturday, and it was clear on the Friday that he was not fit to fly, so we called an ambulance.

'It was a struggle to put him in the wheelchair because he was a dead weight. When he was at the hospital, he had a scan and they found a bleed on his brain.

'The doctor said that if he did not have an operation he would die, and he was transferred to a hospital in Alicante.

'He was put in intensive care and his condition seemed to improve, meaning he could be moved to a neurology ward.'

'But he went downhill on Tuesday, and he had another scan. The doctors came back and said they needed consent to operate at once.'

Andrew spent two and a half hours in surgery having part of his skull removed

Ian, a civil engineer, said: 'The neuro surgeon told us that they have to wait for his brain swelling to go down before reattaching his skull, but that it could take up to one or two months.

'He cannot fly until that happens, but then we want to get him home as soon as possible.

'While the paperwork has been completed to get his medical costs paid in Spain, it does not cover his travel home, and he needs a specialist flight with medical staff.

'We had expected him to be sedated for a few days after the operation to give his brain a chance to recover slowly, but when we saw him yesterday he had his eyes open and was conscious of where he was.

'He could answer questions by squeezing our hands to say, 'Yes' or 'No'. He has really gone back to how he was on Monday. It is a good sign, but we don't want to get our hopes up.'

Carrie said: 'We were able to feed him small amounts of yoghurt, soup and chicken when he first came out of intensive care.

'Now he is back in ICU, but yesterday I was able to give him three spoons of soup, a couple of spoons of yogurt and some sips of water so he is doing well.

'We are going to be here for at least another week. We are all working people and are paying for our own accommodation. It is just the money for the medical flight that we need help with.

'We just don't have tens of thousands of pounds available for that I will do anything t to get him home.

'People say he must have done something before he was punched, but he is not like that all.'

Carrie and Ian said they had formally reported the alleged attack to the Spanish police, but did not want to comment further, pending the investigation.

Ian said they had a number of witnesses to the incident including the British nurse who initially gave first aid to Andrew.