Carl Ratcliffe, 47, a former Barclays bank manager from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, says he is stranded in Turkey after police arrested him for suspected intoxication when he was actually experiencing a severe asthma attack. He and his fiancée Natalia Flynn, 49, arrived at the Susona Hotel in Bodrum on June 10 for an eight-day holiday that quickly turned into a nightmare.
Asthma attack leads to coma and arrest
Two days after arrival, Ratcliffe suffered a life-threatening brittle asthma attack during an evening walk. He was rushed to Bodrum American Hospital and placed in an induced coma, waking three days later. While awaiting a fit-to-fly certificate, he suffered a second attack on June 23 after watching England's match against Ghana in a bar. Fellow tourists called an ambulance, but Ratcliffe alleges Turkish police mistook his medical crisis for drunkenness and detained him.
He claims he was dragged into custody, stripped to his shorts, and confined in a cramped cell with a hole in the corner for a toilet that was covered in faeces. He said officers warned they would shoot him if they could not see his hands. He was released the next day after blood tests showed no alcohol in his system. However, a judge then prevented him from leaving the country, citing an investigation into damage caused to a police motorcycle when Ratcliffe stumbled into it during the attack.
Stranded for 34 days with mounting debts
Ratcliffe has now been trapped in Turkey for 34 days, accumulating £10,000 in debts from accommodation, legal fees, living expenses, and mortgage payments back home. He said: 'I could have died in the hands of the police on two occasions, while suffering a panic attack and if they had shot me. My anxiety is through the roof.' He has instructed three solicitors, but claims the prosecution has not yet scanned case documents onto the system.
His mother, Francine Kelly, 65, from County Down, Northern Ireland, said: 'They treated him like an animal, I am heartbroken. I just want him home and safe in the UK.' Ratcliffe's fiancée has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover costs.
