Brit teacher pistol-whipped & wife hospitalised after armed gang raid Spanish home having confused them for drug dealers

A BRIT teacher was pistol-whipped and his Irish wife hospitalised after an armed and masked gang raided their Spanish home having confused them for drug dealers.

The couple required hospital treatment for injuries they suffered when the armed gang broke into their property in the middle of the night and assaulted them.

The attack was in the mistaken belief they were hiding large amounts of cannabis resin the thugs planned to steal.

The unnamed Brit, a school teacher, was left with a serious head wound which required 18 stitches after being pistol-whipped during the nightmare incident.

His partner also required stitches in the horrific attack.

The scarring incident occurred on a residential estate called Torre Zenia in Lomas de Cabo Roig, part of the Orihuela Costa area south of Alicante - a popular expat and holiday destination.

The intruders are thought to have mistaken the home they targeted with another property which the couple are understood to own nearby that has been taken over by squatters.

The attacked couple who asked not to be named "for fear or reprisals" recounted their horror experience to a local paper as part of a call to cops to increase their presence in the area.

They told Diario Informacion how they were woken up around 4am by the sound of their dogs barking.

After going to investigate the noise, the pair saw four intruders with pistols, balaclavas and gloves climbing over a wall into their back garden.

The British man told how one of the gang hit him over the head with the butt of his gun before ordering him to the ground where he was left covered in blood from the wound he sustained.

His wife was assaulted, also suffering a head injury, when she followed him out into the garden.

The intruders marched them back into their living room and sat them down on their sofa while they ransacked the property.

The expat couple began to suspect they were the victims of a case of mistaken identity when the men began to ask about the ‘Poles’ and cannabis resin.

They were forced out into the street at gunpoint and made to point out another property nearby which Diario Informacion said they own.

The men subsequently raided that property, with the couple calculating eight men in total participated including people they spotted in getaway vehicles.

Police have not yet made any official comment on the incident which is said to have happened around a month ago.

It was not immediately clear this morning if any arrests have been made.