Woman torched man genitals in Greece

Victim: Stuart Feltham suffered second-degree burns and is recovering in a private clinic after a Greek woman set him on fire

A Greek woman accused of setting fire to the genitals of a British tourist in Crete is due to appear in court.

The woman admitted assault after dousing the man’s private parts in alcohol and igniting them, but says she did so after being sexually harassed.

Police on the Greek island say the tourist,  Stuart Feltham was drunk and had waved his genitals at several girls before allegedly groping the suspect.

The 26-year-old suspect, Marina Fanouraki handed herself over to police, claiming she had acted in self defense.She has won praise on Crete for what has been seen as defending her honor.

According to police the 23-year-old tourist was drunk when he dropped his trousers in a nightclub in the resort of Malia.

Fanouraki said she doused the tourist with Sambuca and torched him after she asked him to stop harassing her and he failed to stop.

She will be questioned by an investigating magistrate in the city of Iraklion.

The case has been widely discussed on Greek television, and there has been precious little sympathy for the young Briton.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that in the early hours of Tuesday a 23-year-old British male national was assaulted in Crete.

“We understand he suffered burns on his chest and abdomen.

“He has been receiving consular assistance.”

Feltham’s father, Ian denied his son had sexually harassed anyone or that his genitals were burnt.

He said his son was the victim of an unprovoked attack and was injured ‘from his neck to his belly button’.

‘Stuart swears blind that he’s never met or seen her,’ Ian said. ‘He’s not the kind of lad who gets himself in trouble – he’s a kindhearted, generous boy.

‘I truly think it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

‘He said some girl just came up to him and threw some party trick fuel over him, then set him alight.

‘We received the phone call at 3am from one of his mates, and it was very worrying.

‘He said: “There’s been an incident”, and his words were “He’s been torched”. It was a terrible, horrible attack.

‘Stuart said he was chatting to some guy sitting on a bar stool, and was just walking out when she just ran up to him and did this.

‘He was burned from his neck to his bellybutton, and his hair’s been singed.

‘He’s fine now, and we’ve spoken to him. The doctors say he’s progressing well, and he’s in good spirits.’

Feltham  is recovering in a private clinic in Heraklion following the incident on Wednesday.