Gun terror end to our idyllic honeymoon trip

The couple, who were married last month, were making the most of the final night of their 10-day holiday when disaster struck.

They were walking back to their hotel on the island's idyllic Platinum Coast when Mrs McGoldrick felt someone trying to grab her handbag.

"I looked round and saw a man with his arms outstretched at shoulder level with a gun pointed directly at the back of John's head," said Mrs McGoldrick, 37, from West End, Minchinhampton.

"Another man was gently slipping the handbag out of my hand. "I was in complete shock.

"I barely had time to think but I didn't want to come home a widow so I was happy to let them have it."

The two thieves operated so deftly that Mr McGoldrick, 50, didn't notice anything was amiss - even though he was holding his wife's hand.

Not realising the thieves were armed, he gave chase.

"My first reaction was to chase them and retrieve the bag so I sped off and almost caught up but my wife was screaming," said Mr McGoldrick, a self-confessed workaholic who owns a chain of fish-and-chip shops in the Five Valleys as well as the Whitminster Inn, which he runs with his wife.

"I turned back because I suddenly thought she might be hurt."

The couple, who were married at Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton, were uninjured but extremely shaken-up by the ordeal on January 26.

On hearing of the robbery, staff at the British Consulate insisted on escorted them to the airport the following morning.

On their return they went straight back to work.

"I didn't expect anything like this to happen as it is such a beautiful, friendly place," said Mr McGoldrick, who has two grown-up children from a previous relationship.

"Apart from the last night we had a wonderful time.

"Just the fact of being together in such a beautiful place made it so magical.

"It didn't spoil the holiday but it made us realise that even in paradise the worst things can happen."