Six Northampton tourists who were arrested in Elche early last month remain on police bail, are unable to return to the UK and have to report to the Elche courthouse every month.

The men were arrested after they were involved in a fight with a group of local men while watching a football match in a bar.

Witnesses say that they assaulted a 36-year-old man, without any apparent cause, after which they ran off in different directions, each also resisting arrest when confronted later that morning by the national police.

They were charged with resisting police arrest and with causing Actual Bodily Harm (ABH).

The men, all aged in their twenties, remain in Elche without funding or any form of income and now say that they may be forced to sleep rough.

They concede that they were involved in an altercation but they claim they were not the initial aggressors. The men are said to have all lost their jobs and now face losing their homes.

A lawyer for the men said the ban on leaving Spain is a precautionary measure agreed by the judge given the seriousness of the facts and she is trying to end this situation as soon as possible.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: “We are providing assistance to six British men following their arrest in Elche and subsequent release on bail and are in contact with their lawyer and the Spanish authorities.”