This is the horrific moment a British hero was stabbed in front of his wife as he tried to break up a fight after a gang attacked another tourist in Thailand.
Charlie Faulkner was walking to a 7-11 store with his wife Kate early Friday morning when he claimed he saw several local men working with a foreigner in Phuket.
The heroic Portsmouth husband intervened but was reportedly beaten and stabbed by the thugs, who plunged a knife into the left side of his stomach.
Shocking CCTV footage captured the attack, with Kate also reportedly hit during the brawl on the city’s infamous red-light strip of Bangla Road.
The video shows at least two men throwing punches in what appears to be a random attack on a tourist holding shopping bags.
Horror footage captured the moment a bunch of thugs (left) started beating up a tourist carrying shopping bags on the infamous Bangla Road in Phuket, Thailand
Charlie (pictured right) was seen in footage wearing a black T-shirt, shorts and white trainers before attempting to mediate the fight
Charlie, from Portsmouth, was stabbed after intervening in the brawl
The victim appears caught off guard and raises his arms to defend himself before one of the thugs picks up a chair and launches it at the terrified tourist.
He is then pushed into an alley where footage shows the fight spiraling out of control as he is cornered by three thugs.
Charlie, seen in the video wearing a black shirt, black shorts and white sneakers, stood at the entrance to the alley as the Thai natives and foreign men staggered into the street.
He walked up to the group and claimed he had tried to mediate, but was injured when the rampaging thugs turned their fury on him.
A supermarket employee said Charlie later entered the store and collapsed in front of the counter, bleeding.
He was reportedly coughing up blood and could not speak.
After removing his T-shirt, they found a small stab wound, believed to be from a sharp metal object, on his left ribcage and it was also reported that he had been hit on the head with a glass bottle.
The Briton was rushed to Patong Hospital for treatment.
Charlie’s shocked girlfriend said: ‘We had no idea who those men were. We’ve never met them before. We just got caught in the incident.”
Charlie (pictured above left) was seen emerging from the alley after the other tourist was cornered by thugs
The Brit was seen bleeding on the floor of a shop after being stabbed in the left side of his abdomen
Charlie, pictured with wife Kate, who was also reportedly punched as her husband tried to break up the brawl in Bangla Road
Police Colonel Chalermchai Hernsawat, chief inspector of Patong Police Station, said police have identified the suspects and are tracking them.
Patong police said in a police report on May 19 that three of the Thai men – who were not named – had been arrested.
Lieutenant Colonel Chanan Mekchai of Patong Police Station said emergency services received a report at 4.40am.
He said: “According to security footage, a foreigner wearing a white shirt and shorts was involved in a fistfight with a group of Thai men on Soi Bangla at 4.32am.
‘The altercation escalated and they pushed each other into a small alley, Soi Lao, before taking the fight to the side of the road where they were seen by the British man.’
The incident is one of the latest cases of violence against British tourists and expats in Thailand, raising concerns about the safety of visitors in the Southeast Asian country.
British mother-of-one Ayesha Jane Cox, 37, was knocked unconscious by a single punch from 27-year-old security guard Mohammad Ayan, who she scolded for taking a nap while working in Bangkok in 2021.
Last September, a warrant was issued for the guard’s arrest, and Ayesha and her family called on police to arrest him. She said the attack left her with a “permanently damaged” face.
On February 22, British tourist Joseph Abadi-Johns, 23, was stabbed during a huge brawl in Phuket with Thai transgender sex workers, whom he and his friends allegedly hired but refused to pay.
In August 2023, holidaymaker Ian Thomas, 60, and his son Gregory, 37, were attacked by bouncers who kicked them out of Matador Bar in Pattaya’s Soi Buakhao red light district.
While in 2016, British couple Lewis and Rosemary Owen, 68 and 65, were visiting Hua Hin with their son John, 43, when they were brutally beaten by several drunken Thai men ‘for spilling their beer’.
The brutal attack left the family unconscious, with Rosemary suffering brain swelling.
The couple, who were regular visitors to Thailand, had vowed never to return to Thailand after the attack. Their attackers were sentenced to four years in prison – commuted to two years after they allegedly confessed.