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A Weston-super-Mare dad says he is facing jail in Thailand for “fighting back” as a gang allegedly cracked his skull with nail-embedded sticks.

Luke Thornton, 38, told Bristol Live he was kicked and punched in the face, put in an “MMA-style chokehold” and repeatedly knocked out in an attack by three bikers.

CCTV footage, which can be seen at the top of this page, shows the incident which took place while Luke was on holiday in the small town of Pai on May 20.

The air conditioning engineer, who has three children aged from eight to 14, suffered horrific injuries which led to doctors surgically removing his left eyeball and reinserting it so he could regain vision.

(Image: Luke Thornton)

But Luke claims Thai authorities then charged him with an unknown offence and placed him in a “disgusting” cell before he was bailed. He has been warned of a possible jail term.

He said: "They are saying it was a fight, but it clearly wasn’t. I was attacked and I threw a couple of punches in self-defence. Now I’m stranded in Thailand.”

'We were just chilling'

Luke got together with his Thai wife Sayforn Phetkajang four years ago, when they met in a Muay Thai boxing camp where she was his trainer.

He said: “I go to Thailand all the time. Any time I can get, I spend it with my wife. At the end of April I flew over for a holiday with her.

“We were renting a bungalow in Pai. On the night of May 20, she stayed in and I went out for the evening.

“It must have been about midnight. I was sitting in the road with some friends I had met in bars.

(Image: Luke Thornton)

“It was stupid of me to sit in the road, but everyone in Pai does it. We were just chilling.”

Luke says a gang of three men in their 20s rode up to his group and started revving their motorbikes.

“We put our hands together like we were praying,” he added. “It was a sign of respect, telling them we would get out the way.

“But they started hitting out at my friend, so I tried to pull him away. This made them angry and they attacked me.

“They had wooden sticks with nails pointing out. They were screaming they were going to kill me.

“I could believe what I was hearing. They punched me in the face and the back, they kicked my legs and smashed my face with their sticks.”

'Where will we put his body?'

(Image: Luke Thornton)

Luke says he was on his knees when one of the men got him in an “MMA-style chokehold”.

“I lost consciousness and then when I woke up again, they knocked me out with a kick to the head," he continued. "This happened two or three times.

“At one point they picked me up and dragged me across the road, my face scraping along.”

Luke claims the 40-minute attack came to a head when he heard one of the men say: “Where will we put his body?”

He told Bristol Live: “I just kind of accepted that was it for me. It was that scary.

“I ended up getting off the floor and running away. I could just about see through the blood in my eyes, but it was double vision.

“I stumbled into a hotel’s reception and got them to call an ambulance.”

Badly concussed, Luke was taken to the local hospital but refused treatment.

He said: “I was telling the doctors, ‘Don’t do anything to me, I need to see my wife.’

“I made them take me back to the bungalow because I thought she would be worried about me.

“She was in shock when she saw me and took me right back to the hospital, where I had 40-something stitches.”

'The pain was horrendous'

(Image: Luke Thornton)

The next day Luke’s friend drove him to a hospital for specialist treatment in the nearby city of Chiang Mai.

“The pain was horrendous,” he said. “I was in the back of a minivan, going down a twisting mountain track. My face was swelling up like a football.”

Over the following two weeks Luke underwent facial reconstruction surgery and operations on his fractured skull and broken finger, with medical bills running to £7,500.

“I had suffered a smashed eye socket and a smashed nose,” he continued.

“I should say ‘broken’ but the doctor described it as an egg shell.”

His left eyeball was removed and a piece of silicon implanted before the eyeball was reinserted. A month after the attack, Luke began to see from the eye again.

During his hospital stay, Luke claims he was visited by police and the local mayor, who apologised for what happened and brought a hamper of treats. He says Thai media reported on this visit.

Two days later, Luke appeared in court. He knew three men had been arrested and he was expecting to watch them face justice.

(Image: Luke Thornton)

But he says he was taken into a courtroom “the size of my bedroom” and told he was facing a trial for “fighting”. He was then put in a cell for hours.

He said: “The cell was disgusting. I was sat with two people who were throwing up. There was a hole in the ground to go to the toilet.

“Luckily my friend from the tattoo shop in Pai came with £1,000 in bail money. Since then I’ve been able to stay with my wife.”

'I am so scared'

Luke says he still does not know the specific offence he has been charged with because his lawyer does not speak English.

He claims authorities have informed him the case could drag on for six months if he does not accept his guilt, and he could potentially face jail time or a £10,000 fine.

Luke said: “I’ve been told I will have to sit in the dock with the three men who attacked me at my next court date on September 9.

“I am so scared they will kill me. I have PTSD from that night, and I can’t stop replaying it in my head.”

Luke has been placed on medications including anti-psychotics and Xanax to cope with his PTSD.

His passport has been confiscated by the Thai authorities and he is unable to return to Weston to see his children.

He said: “My kids video-called me when I was in hospital. I didn’t want to answer it and scare them.

“But at the same time, I really had to see them. They were crying, but I reassured them.

“I said, ‘You know me. It will be alright.’

"The most difficult thing about this is 100 per cent not being able to see my kids.

“I have missed the whole school holidays. I just want to go home.”

Friends of Luke have set up a fundraising page to support him, which you can see here.

He is in need of money after taking out a loan to sustain his living and medical costs in Thailand.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are supporting a British man following an assault in Thailand, and are in contact with the Thai authorities.”

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