A grieving mother whose nine-year-old daughter died from epilepsy claims she nearly lost her son after he was violently kicked in the head by a group of thugs.
British-born Arabella Scanlan, who lives in Ireland, claims three men attacked her son Harry ‘for his Irish accent’ in March 2022 while he was walking with a friend in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Harry was rushed into intensive care after the thugs ‘used his head as a football’ -knocking out his teeth, ‘obliterating’ his nose, breaking his cheekbone and kicking his jaw and shoulder so badly they have been left permanently dislocated.
As a result of his injuries, 27-year-old Harry can never fulfil his dream of being a Royal Marine like his grandfather.
The family have been desperately trying to get the case to go to trial, but it was officially thrown out by the CPS this month after Harry couldn’t attend a court date due to a serious operation on his shattered shoulder.
The alleged attack came just three years after Ms Scanlan lost her nine-year-old daughter Brianna to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) – a rare condition affecting around 1 in 1,000 people with epilepsy every year.
The mother fears she could now lose a second child as a ‘broken’ Harry has been left ‘suicidal’ over his injuries and the lack of justice.
‘I’ve already lost one child – I can’t lose another. Harry has lost all hope. All he wanted to do was be a Royal Marine like his grandad. That will never happen,’ Ms Scanlan told MailOnline.
Harry pictured after the incident, where he was allegedly attacked in the street in Tunbridge Wells
Harry, 27, pictured with two of his sisters
Mother Arabella Scanlan lost her nine-year-old daughter Brianna to SUDEP three years before the alleged attack on Harry
‘I’m a glass half full kind of person, but of recent times my glass is not even near half full because I’m worried sick about Harry.
‘We’ve had nothing of any help. I love him so much, he’s a young gentleman, and any British citizen would be proud to call him a British person, or an Irish British person.’
The mother added: ‘To have three English scumbags do this to an absolute gentleman, and get no comeback for it, the judicial system […] are disgusting.’
Harry was allegedly walking along a main road in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, with a female friend when he was attacked from behind by three men.
He was treated repeatedly ‘as a football’, his mother claimed, leaving him with injuries so severe he has been left with a permanently dislocated jaw and shoulder.
At the time, Ms Scanlan was holding a memorial race to raise money for SUDEP following the death of her daughter Brianna in 2019.
‘I actually had to detach – I said is he going to die? Do I need to leave now?,’ she said.
The case was set to go to court on several different occasions, the family claims, but kept being postponed due to factors such as a lack of court availability and the defendants not being available.
According to his mother, Harry was supposed to attend court on June 9, but when he rang three days beforehand to check what time be must arrive, it turned out the hearing had been cancelled due to a lack of court availability.
The 27-year-old then warned the courts he was due to undergo serious surgery on his shoulder – ‘shattered’ from the ordeal – on July 17, requesting not to have the trial rearranged to that month. Harry provided a note from his GP to confirm this, his mother said.
Weeks later, Harry received a call saying he would need to be in court the following Monday, July 14, his mother said – the same week as his major surgery.
‘Harry said there’s no chance he could be there as he was preparing to be operated on that week,’ Ms Scanlan said.
Harry is pictured with a shoulder strap on as he strokes a horse after the alleged attack
Harry was a keen horse rider before he sustained his injuries in March 2022
Ms Scanlan fears she could lose a second child as a ‘broken’ Harry has been left ‘suicidal’ over his injuries and the lack of justice
Brianna is pictured with her Great Dane Charlie, who could senses is she was about to have an epileptic fit or seizure
Brianna, nine, lost her life to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) – a rare condition affecting around 1 in 1,000 people with epilepsy every year
The family have been desperately trying to get the case to go to trial, but it was officially thrown out by the CPS this month
Brianna died from SUDEP three years before the alleged attack on her brother Harry
He was allegedly then told that if he didn’t show up to court that Monday, the case could be thrown out.
‘He took this really badly and disappeared for a few hours and I actually thought he wasn’t going to be coming home,’ his mother said.
‘Harry is one of these really lovely young men who would stop and give you his seat and open the door for you. He’s a lovely, lovely guy.
‘Harry’s mental health now is now at an all-time low. He now has nothing. He has no job, he’s spent all his savings, he can never go back into the Marines because he is so badly beaten up.’
Due to Harry’s ‘suicidal’ thoughts, his mother claimed the CPS agreed that if he verbally consented to his mental health not being well enough to attend court, his case would still be able to go to trial. However, Harry could not get a doctor’s note over the weekend in time for the trial on the Monday.
The 27-year-old received a letter from the CPS on Tuesday, confirming his case had been officially dropped.
‘He’s still paying for this years on, in pain and in money. He’s gone through all his savings, he can’t work,’ his mother said.
After receiving the letter informing him the CPS had dropped the case, Harry told MailOnline: ‘I’m broken to this day, and these guys are now getting away with it. I’ve given everything, it’s not good enough, it’s negligence on every level.’
He added: ‘I can’t go back into the Marines because of this, I can’t work with horses because of this, I’ve lost multiple jobs because of this.’
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: ‘We applied to the court to adjourn the trial, but our application was declined by the judge.
‘We appreciate the complainant is disappointed with the outcome, but the CPS did everything we legally could to ensure a trial could take place.’
Kent Police declined to comment.
