'Drunk' pair say they were drugged

May 7 2008

A British couple who allegedly got so drunk on holiday they passed out while in charge of their three young children believe they were drugged.

Bank of Ireland manager Eamon McGuckin, 34, and his wife Antoinette, 32, from Maghera, Northern Ireland, were due to attend a hearing at the Family and Minors Court in Faro, Portugal, on Tuesday afternoon but failed to appear.

The Foreign Office said the family had left Portugal and returned to the UK. There was no sign of them at home on Tuesday afternoon.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "There were no legal restrictions on them having to stay and there was no obligation for them to be in court."

Hotel staff in Vilamoura in the Algarve called police after the couple collapsed on Friday night.

They were taken to a health centre in nearby Loule while their children Adam, one, Amy, two, and Aaron, six, were temporarily taken into care at the Refugio Aboim Ascensao children's home in Faro.

The couple, who had arrived in the resort earlier that day, fear their drinks were spiked by robbers who target new arrivals, the Daily Mirror reported.

The newspaper reported that the couple have told friends they became ill around 30 minutes after drinking a jug of sangria.

The couple's former GP Dr Cyril Harkin told the newspaper: "I've known them for years. They were drugged. I have no doubt."

Nationalist SDLP councillor Kate Lagan knows the family and said: "They are very quiet people and the local community is totally and utterly supportive of them. Everybody knows them and that is the important thing. They left Portugal because they were told there was no need for them to stay and they knew there would be a media frenzy around the courthouse."