Rugby player's throat slashed on holiday isle

Isaac Brown, of Eccleshill, Bradford, had to have four hours of specialist surgery in a private hospital after his throat was cut from behind his ear to beneath his jaw. He is still detained in hospital a week after the attack.

Mr Brown, an Academy player with Super League club Huddersfield Giants, was injured within hours of arriving on holiday at the coastal resort of Ayia Napa.

His mother, Wendy Smith, is trying to raise 7,500 euros, more than 6,000, to pay for his treatment, after discovering the 19-year-old was not fully insured.

Mrs Smith, 43, of Thornbridge Mews, Eccleshill, said: "From what I have been told he and his friends had gone into the centre for a look round.

"One of them found Isaac collapsed on the ground with blood everywhere. Someone had slashed him from behind with a bottle.''

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed Isaac had been hospitalised in Ayia Napa.