A holidaymaker who was shot at point-blank range as he tried to fight off an armed robber has insisted: "I'm no hero".

Les Abbie was shot in the mouth by a drug-crazed gunman in his hotel room on the holiday isle of Barbados.

His wife Karen was also shot in the head as they tried to push the raider out of their room. Miraculously, they both survived.

Consultant Huw Davies, who operated on Mr Abbie at Ipswich Hospital, said: "If the bullet had entered his face full-on instead of being fired at an angle, it would have penetrated his brain and he would have been dead."

Mrs Abbie was also shot, but the bullet only grazed her skull before hitting the wall.

The fine arts student - who was in the Caribbean celebrating her 50th birthday - said she thought her husband was dead.

"I was absolutely terrified and shocked. I saw blood coming from my husband's mouth and I thought he was dead."

Mr Abbie, 48, of Coggeshall Road, Earls Colne, was treated in hospital in Barbados by a specialist who removed a bullet, teeth and bone splinters from his shattered mouth.

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