Shark hero returns home jobless
2013-03-12 22:37
Video
2013-01-21 09:33
A British tourist is being hailed a hero after he tackled a 2-metre shark that came a bit too close to paddling toddlers along the shore.WATCH
London - A British man hailed as a hero for wrestling a
shark away from an Australian beach said on Tuesday he had been sacked after it
emerged that he was on sick leave at the time.
Paul Marshallsea, a 62-year-old charity worker from Wales,
won praise in January when he ran into the sea near Brisbane to grapple with
the 1.8m shark, fearing it would attack paddling children.
A local television crew caught the incident on camera and
images of him pulling the creature away from the beach were beamed around the
world.
But they also caught the eye of his employers, the Pant
and Dowlais Boys' and Girls' Club children's charity - who were not pleased to
see Marshallsea on the beach when he was on sick leave with stress.
Marshallsea says he and his wife Wendy - who also worked
for the charity and was also on sick leave when they went on holiday - returned
to their home in the town of Merthyr Tydfil to find letters informing them that
they had been fired.
"Where do I now get a job? There's not much call for
shark wrestlers in Merthyr Tydfil," he told the WalesOnline website.
The father-of-three said he was "disgusted" by
how the charity has treated them, arguing that doctors had advised the couple
to go on holiday to cope with stress.
"If I hadn't gone in to save the kids on that beach
that day my wife and I would still have a job," he said.
"You think being in charge and running a children's
charity, they would have tapped me on the back."
Marshallsea worked as a project manager for the charity
while his wife was a senior youth worker. Both had been on sick leave with
work-related stress since last April.
The charity's letter to Marshallsea said: "While
unfit to work you were well enough to travel to Australia and, according to
recent news footage of yourself in Queensland, you allegedly grabbed a shark by
the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the
way."
