advertisement
Sat, Feb 11 2012
Scottish couple savagely attacked at home
The Scottish Sun reports that a Scottish couple have decided to return to the UK after they were attacked in their home in Bulgaria on August 7 by a gang of machete-wielding thugs who also slaughtered their dogs.
Alan Cantwell, 64, and wife Sylvia, 63, were reported to be driving back to Scotland following the raid on their remote house near Pleven by "four crazed brutes" - who slashed their dogs to death.
Under the headline "Scots flee from Bulgaria brutes", the newspaper reports that Cantwell and his wife were sleeping when they heard their dogs barking.
According to their daughter, Yvonne, "He (Alan Cantwell) was gone for a while then one of the gang kicked in the bedroom door.
He was huge and pinned mum to the bed. He held a machete to her face, screaming: 'Money, money, money!' Mum said they didn't keep cash in the house and handed over all their cards and pin numbers. But he screamed abuse in Bulgarian while the other three trashed the house."
The Sun reports that Cantwell was then tied up in the garden and repeatedly hit with a pickaxe handle. The couple's dogs were butchered. The paper also reports that after Yvonne had alerted police and identified a member of the gang, the intruders returned to wreak revenge but found the house abandoned because the couple had moved from their home - described as being in a rural area - into a hotel.
According to the paper, the gang also swooped on the home of another UK couple who had helped the Cantwells contact the authorities.
Both couples have decided to return to the UK.
Alan Cantwell, 64, and wife Sylvia, 63, were reported to be driving back to Scotland following the raid on their remote house near Pleven by "four crazed brutes" - who slashed their dogs to death.
Under the headline "Scots flee from Bulgaria brutes", the newspaper reports that Cantwell and his wife were sleeping when they heard their dogs barking.
According to their daughter, Yvonne, "He (Alan Cantwell) was gone for a while then one of the gang kicked in the bedroom door.
He was huge and pinned mum to the bed. He held a machete to her face, screaming: 'Money, money, money!' Mum said they didn't keep cash in the house and handed over all their cards and pin numbers. But he screamed abuse in Bulgarian while the other three trashed the house."
The Sun reports that Cantwell was then tied up in the garden and repeatedly hit with a pickaxe handle. The couple's dogs were butchered. The paper also reports that after Yvonne had alerted police and identified a member of the gang, the intruders returned to wreak revenge but found the house abandoned because the couple had moved from their home - described as being in a rural area - into a hotel.
According to the paper, the gang also swooped on the home of another UK couple who had helped the Cantwells contact the authorities.
Both couples have decided to return to the UK.
-
Print
-
Send via email
- Translate to
-
Share:
Comments
To post comments, please, Login or Register.
Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.
‘Bulgaria brutes’
The Sun highlights violence in Bulgaria while the Daily Mail blames the European Union’s newest entrants for British tax hikes
More in this category
US embassy in Sofia announces youth essay contest
Works will be reviewed by a group of judges, and winners will receive certificates and prizes.
Bulgarian police bust drug distribution gang in ‘Operation Hammer’
Seven arrested, including ‘The Squirrel’ who was found in possession of 10 00 euro, Interior Ministry says. Mobile phones, computer equipment and drug paraphernalia seized.
Bulgaria’s winter weekend weather – cloudy and cold with light snow
Maximum temperatures across the country will remain mostly below zero.
Mild earth tremors in Bulgaria on February 10
The first tremor was at about 12.34am, followed by another three minutes later. Their epicentres were located between the towns of Radnevo and Topolovgrad.
Bulgaria halts electricity exports after power plant accident
There was no risk of blackouts caused by insufficient power supply, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov told Bulgarian National Radio.
© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.
Web Design by RIZN
Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted.
Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only
with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site.
Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com.
Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments.
The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the
price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes,
and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.
- Economedia Group portfolio:
- In Bulgarian:
-
Business:
Капитал,
Кариери,
Пазари,
Ho Re Mag,
Регал,
Градът.bg,
Одит,
Foton.bg,
Online shop
- News: Дневник, Европа, Foreign Policy - България
- IT: IDG.BG, Computerworld, PC World, CIO, Networkworld
- Entertainment: Бакхус
-
In English:
The Sofia Echo
bunch of nonsense?
your as bad as the thugs a**hole.
just a question please. does a responsible, law-abiding person who has an unblemished record, have a legal right to own a gun in Bulgaria? Many thanks.- Alan
When you have lived it and experienced it like we did, then you can comment!! We helped the couple who were attacked and it was NOT an isolated incident as we found out!!
I read that the woman was meant to have identified one of these people sorry i meant ANIMALS if so they should lock them up and throw away the keY.
How did this gang know that Mrs Cantwell had identified one of the attackers? This is a vital question which must be answered, as the no-one is safe if the police cannot ensure the safety of potential witnesses. Even more interestingly, when the gang returned 'to wreak revenge' how did the newspaper or police find out this had happened and if someone saw the gang, why weren't the police called at that time? If they were ....why are these criminals still at large?
I love Bulgaria, but the police need to be more proactive, responsible and committed.
it is typical of the police around the world minor crimes including motering offences are priorty because they are easy.ordenary people & problems are ignored because they require police to protect & serve,not sit in there cars or in bars watching the world go by without a care in the world.
Bularia is not exempt from crime but the issue seems to be that the police are doing very little about it. This makes me wary. I have two holiday homes in Bulgaria and the local people have made us very welcome. But we have been warned about corrupt officials. A big shame as Bulgaria is a lovely country and if it is seen to allow crimes to go unpunished they will loose their tourist trade.
Does anyone take into account that the thugs were probably Gipsy? Those scums of a people continue to vex the dwellers of remote BG villages unopposed. Somebody has got to show Europe what a threat the Gipsy actually pose for foreigners who reside in BG. Perhaps then they will reassess their misguided belief that the Gipsy are poor, non-violent and discriminated. What a shame for that Scottish family. I hate myself for being Bulgarian right now. Shame on our disgraced county!!!
To "To Herx": You are completely misinterpreting my comments. Shame on you.
What are the police doing about, someone asked? How about the fact that the other British couple, who helped the assault victims report it to the police, were also attacked later, in retaliation for helping the first couple?
Seems like someone in the local police office is working with the assailants. How else would the assailants know who helped the first victims? I guess that's what the local police are doing about it - they are working with the criminals [...]
Read the full comment to steal from the foreigners.
I hate the accident and regret it happened - recession or not, crime should not be the answer. I hope this does not happen again, to anyone. I don't think this tarnishes a reputation of a whole country though. It will be forgotten after the next famous crime in the West. Think the Austrian weirdo that imprisoned his daughter...
I agree there are more stories like this in the UK also bear in mind the population size difference!
I do not care who you are or where you come from, no one has the right to intimidate you, inflict pain upon you or put you and your family in fear of your life enough to drive you from your home. I do not know what the Bulgarian authorities are doing about this attack and it will be interesting to follow it and see if arrests are made and what the punishments are. If nothing else I hope [...]
Read the full comment Bulgaria learns from Britains mistakes, unless action is taken to stop these sorts of attacks (look back through the news and you'll see this is NOT a one off attack) the number is growing and will continue to grow. I cannot say what would stop them but a good deterent would be the first step! Foreigners bring a lot of money into the economy of this country and if its seen to be a place thats not safe or that crimes against foreigners go relatively unpunished, why would people want to come here? what would be the attraction? and believe me that will have a long term and detrimental effect on the economy and that would be a shame as this is a wonderful place to live, but we should all be able to feel safe in our own homes.
In other countries they would have
been murdered. In the UK, there are numerous stories of teenagers attacking pensioners over very little, some resulting in murder.
I think pensioners are probably safer in Bulgaria.
Incidently, I think streetcrime is up in Sofia this summer as I know of several friends and acquaintances been attacked and robbed in and around the centre at night. Previously, this wasn't the case. Credit Crunch?
Everyone should be able to retire in the place and style that they choose. Your idea of retirement would be a nightmare for me and many others. These folks have a right to live where and how they desire in peace. You seem to indicate that somehow they are to blame for being attacked by a bunch of thugs. Shame on you.
I've been coming to Bulgaria for 10 years and this makes me nervous since we just bought an apartment in Sofia. I've always felt safe walking around Sofia, even at night. But this recession has done stange things to people.
Im sure that this is probably an isolated incident.
What are the police doing about it?
This stuff does happen. It has happened in my native United States. I am always mystified by some people's idea of retirement: to go live alone in a remote location, without benefit of local family or friends, in a country much poorer than one's home country. It is almost an open invitation to be robbed or worse.
Should I live long enough to be able to retire, it will be in an apartment in the best house I can afford, in a civilized part of a big city, one where I at least already have some [...]
Read the full comment long time local friends.
What a sad story and an atrocious blight on BG's reputation. After this story, how many British pensioners will be so eager to retire in Bulgaria "on the cheap"? It is too dangerous. If you can afford a secured, luxury community on the sea coast, that is something different. But to try to do it on the cheap, in a remote, rural cottage, forget it.
How is it.
What a bunch of nonsense.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained Обиди, дискриминация, срещу журналисти