Northampton tourists arrested in Spain after alleged bar fight have not been able to return home for six weeks

Sun-worshippers sunbathing at Levante Beach in Benidorm this year (file picture). Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images.

The friends flew to Elche, near Benidorm for a holiday, on August 28 and were due to return home on September 1.

But after they were involved in a fight with a group of local men while watching a football match in a bar the Northampton men were arrested on August 30 and later charged with resisting police arrest and with causing Actual Bodily Harm (ABH).

They concede that they were involved in an altercation but they claim they were not the initial aggressors.

The Northampton men, all aged in their twenties, remain in Elche where they are on police bail and have to report to a courthouse every month as part of their bail conditions.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: “We are providing assistance to six British men following their arrest in Elche and subsequent release on bail and are in contact with their lawyer and the Spanish authorities.”

Some of the men, who have already been in Spain for six weeks, have lost their jobs and face losing their homes in the UK.

A relative of one of the men told the Chronicle & Echo: "We cannot see an end to this nightmare as they have to stay in Spain and sign court papers on the first of every month.

"Shortly our boys will be sleeping rough on the streets as they cannot pay the £360 per week for a shared flat, or afford food. One mother has two of her sons stuck out in Spain and is heartbroken.

"Two of the boys have had to give up their homes in the UK as they cannot pay the rent and another has already lost his job."

The men, who are apparently not eligible for social security payment, are now getting help from the Red Cross who have offered them food but cannot put them up in temporary accommodation.

A lawyer for the men said the ban on leaving Spain is a precautionary measure agreed by the judge given the seriousness of the facts and she is trying to end this situation as soon as possible.

The MP for Northampton South Andrew Lewer, MP for Northampton North Michael Ellis and MP for Northamptonshire South Andrea Leadsom have all contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on behalf of the six men, they confirmed to the Chron.