A BOLTON man, in "the wrong place at the wrong time", was beaten to death by two men while holidaying in Tenerife, an inquest has been told.

Michael William Hulse, aged 37, known to his friends as Joe, suffered serious injuries to his head and brain after being hit and knocked to the ground on the sunshine island.

His two alleged assailants, also from Bolton, were known to him only through the friend he was holidaying with, the hearing was told.

At an inquest in Bolton yesterday, Coroner, Mr Martin Coppel, recorded a verdict of "unlawful killing" and said he would be passing on the inquest file to the relevant people, after hearing how Mr Hulse of Solent Drive, Darcy Lever, had been subjected to a vicious attack.

Mr Hulse died in hospital 17 days after being found with his severe injuries.

He had gone on the two week holiday with a friend, Mr Raymond Small. The inquest was told by Mr Hulse's mother, Irene, that the two men she believed had attacked her son had followed the pair out to Tenerife, believing Mr Small had been travelling with his sister, a former girlfriend of one of the alleged assailants. She said: "My son was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mrs Hulse, who visited her son in the hospital in Tenerife, said he had managed to tell her what had happened to him, while in a semi-conscious state in the days before he died.

She said he had been attacked in a bar, where he had been headbutted. He then went outside bleeding.

It was only the following morning that Mr Hulse was taken to hospital. However, he managed to leave and find his way back to the apartment, before almost immediately being taken back to hospital.

Tenerife police investigated the incident and Mr Coppel read from Spanish reports that positive identifications of both alleged assailants had been made.

Post mortem reports both in Spain and in Bolton confirmed Mr Hulse had died from head injuries. Summing up Mr Coppel said: "I am satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that death was due to unlawful killing.

"For the family this has been an absolutely dreadful occurrence and one they will have great difficulty in coming to terms with.

"They will only be content when justice has been done."

Mr Hulse was attacked at the end of the first week in his two week stay, and earlier in the inquest, his mother described how she had found a postcard he had written earlier in the holiday, but not yet posted, among his belongings.

She said: "He had written he loved Tenerife and was happy to be in the sunshine."

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