SPANISH newspapers say five locals have been charged with killing a Bournemouth man who fell 25ft from a balcony in a brawl on the Costa del Sol.

According to reports in the Spanish media, prosecutors claim Stephen Mallon, 49, of Southbourne, was struck with a bottle and then pushed off the balcony, as he defended his teenage sons from a mob in 2009.

Now a Spanish judge has decided five locals should answer to manslaughter charges over Mr Mallon’s death and 12 others have been charged with wounding and affray. The accused, who are Spanish and reported to be aged between 18 and 25, will be tried in Malaga, but no date has yet been set for the start of proceedings.

At the time it was reported in England that Mr Mallon had taken his sons Peter and Carl and three of their friends to his holiday home in the mountain village of Competa to celebrate the twins’ birthdays. But while they were at the La Estrella, pub locals turned on them because they were English, it was claimed.

The family were reported to have angrily denied contradictory reports in Spain, which claimed the fight started when one of Mr Mallon’s sons flirted with a local girl, whose Spanish ex-boyfriend became jealous.

Mr Mallon was left fighting for his life in a coma at the Carlos Haya Hospital in Malaga after suffering serious head injuries in the fall.

Twelve days later his wife Teresa, sons and daughter Jenny were at his side when doctors switched off his life support machine.