British teenager beaten by bouncers in Greek nightclub reveals injuries and the truth about the cause

The British teenager who was savagely beaten by four goons at a nightclub on the partying Greek island of Zante has revealed the extent of his injuries and the truth about how the brutal attack broke out.

Distressing footage shows 18-year-old James Taylor being held in a headlock by four bouncers at the CherryBay nightclub in Laganas on July 4 before they took turns punching, kicking and elbowing him in the face and body.

James, from Middlesbrough, told MailOnline he suffered two black eyes, a swollen jaw, blows to the head, a broken lip and a cut knee after the savage attack and shared photos of his gruesome injuries.

The teen revealed that the savage attack happened simply because he climbed on a chair to take a selfie with his friends before dancing on it for ten seconds. A bouncer had tried to grab James’s arm to pull him down from the chair, but when James jerked back, the club employee disappeared.

“The goalie came back ten seconds later with the rest of the goalies that were on the video and they took me outside and started beating me,” James said. ‘That’s all it took, something as small as standing on a chair.’

The revelation comes as his ‘devastated’ mother, Michelle Taylor, 55, warned other parents whose children go to Zante, a popular destination with young Britons, that what happened to James could happen to them.

“I want to get this message across that this is unacceptable and that this is happening to our children,” Michelle told MailOnline. I am a mother and every mother will feel this if this happens to her son when they go on holiday to Zante.

‘You shouldn’t have to worry about whether the gorillas might hit them.’

The mother of three said James had called her in the early hours of Wednesday morning to ask if she had health insurance because he had been attacked by the four bouncers.

‘I wanted to get on a plane and go there. I wanted to take him home, but he wanted to stay out, that he wasn’t going to let them spoil his vacation,” Michelle said.

Michelle says she hasn’t seen the video of her son being attacked because it would be “too traumatic.”

The harrowing footage shows three goons holding James in a headlock while a fourth beats him with a series of punches. As the Brit desperately tries to break free of his grasp, the bouncers begin to take turns kicking, punching, and elbowing him in the body and head.

A goalie can be seen repeatedly hitting James with a right hook to the head as he tries to shield his body from the heavy blows. At one point, as the 18-year-old almost breaks free, a large man knees him in the face and pushes him into the corner before punching him in the face.

In the video, a second goalkeeper can be seen quickly stepping forward and punching James in the face, the force of which causes his head to hit the wall behind him in a sickening blow. A bloodied and bruised James is finally able to escape his clutches.

Speaking about the attack, James said: ‘It happened so fast. I only remember the big hit: adrenaline took over.

Asked if he was kicked and kneed to the body by goalkeepers, he said: “I can’t remember that, it was all a blur.” I only knew they kicked me when they sent me the video when I landed in the UK.

Heartbreaking photographs taken a day after the attack show James with two black eyes and a split lip.

Michelle said she “felt sick to her stomach” when James told her about the attack.

She said: ‘As a mother, no matter how old your child is, you want to protect him. I wasn’t there I wasn’t there to keep him safe. He is a happy boy, he went on vacation with his friends to have a good time, and then this happened.

Michelle, her voice cracking with emotion, added: “It disgusts me that someone could do this to an 18-year-old and get away with it.” He was absolutely devastated, I still am.’

Michelle, who looks after her elderly mother and grandchildren full-time, added: “James is a lovely lad. Everyone who knows him loves him. He’s not a pushy person, he doesn’t go out looking for trouble. I’m furious that this could happen and they can get away with it.

‘If this had happened in the UK, this would have gone all the way to the courts. Why is this allowed?

The ‘devastated’ mother said she ‘shudders’ to think of what would have happened if the gorillas had attacked her two friends with him, as they are smaller in size and James goes to the gym.

“If they had hit any of his friends who were with him and they fell to the ground, I shudder to think what would have happened to them if they had been kicked,” Michelle said.

Greek media reports citing unnamed sources had included unsubstantiated claims that bouncers attacked James because he had hit a girl with a bottle on July 7. But James was hit by bouncers three days earlier, on July 4, and said he hadn’t hit a girl.

Speaking about why the bouncers had attacked him, James said: “I was sitting with my friends at the back of the club and we had a few seats around us.” We got a selfie of the big group of us there and I jumped on a seat to get in the picture and danced on the chair for about 10 seconds.

“The goalie tried to grab my arm to pull me down and I pulled my arm back before he said ‘down’.”

I got off right away, but I don’t think he liked the fact that I was strong enough to get my arm off him. The goalie left but he came back ten seconds later with the rest of the goalies that were in the video and they took me outside and started beating me.’

Added James: “I was amazed at how little you have to do to get these foreign gorillas to start beating someone like that.”

“I thought if you go away and you’re being silly and causing trouble then yes, maybe, but I didn’t realize it would happen for something as small as standing on a chair to take a selfie.”

James said after the attack that he would “never go back” to Zante.

Bouncers just want to fight and beat people up. It is common for tourists to be beaten. When I was there people asked me where my black eye got and when I said “guess it” everyone immediately guessed Cherry Bay.

Asked what he would say to other teenagers planning to travel to Zante, he said: “If people are going to Zante, know that all you have to do is stand on a chair and that could happen to you.” They really don’t care.

After the attack, James was rushed to the medical center and had an X-ray done. He told the doctors that he had sustained the injuries after the bouncers beat him.

But Michelle said the medical report only says that James had sustained his injuries “by falling on his face,” even though the teen told them about the attack in detail.

‘That is scary. I feel like these people are involved. They are all corrupt, they all stick together no matter what. That in itself is scary.

Local media reports in Greece reported that James had spoken to the police and identified a Serbian goalkeeper. But James and his mother said he never spoke to the officers.

MailOnline has contacted CherryBay nightclub for comment.

In 2017, an American tourist was beaten to death by seven Serb men, including a doorman, and a Greek bartender at Bar Code in the same Laganas resort.

Bakari Henderson, 22, was in Zakynthos for a photo shoot to launch his own fashion line when he and his friends visited the bar and reportedly asked a Serbian waitress for a selfie.

The mob of Serb men chased Henderson into the street and he was fatally attacked.