A date has been set for the retrial of four men convicted of brutally attacking footballer Robbie Hughes in Malia. 

Curtis Taylor, Sean Branton, Daniel Bell and Joseph Bruckland, will stand trial for a second time on November 19, two years after Greek court found them guilty of stamping on and stabbing the former Croydon Athletic and Sutton United player. 

The savage assault in 2008 nearly killed Robbie, now aged 33, and left him permanently brain damaged. 

But, to the incredulity of Mr Hughes's mum Maggie, the four attackers are not required to attend the upcoming trial in Crete.

She said: "We are required to go, but they are not. When I tell people that they say, 'Maggie, are you sure you have got that the right way round?' It just makes no sense.'"

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Robbie Hughes with mum Maggie

The four men, all from Horley in Surrey, were handed four-year jail terms, suspended pending an appeal, after being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm in the attack outside a nightclub.

The attack left Mr Hughes in a coma for two weeks, left him with persistent memory problems and ended the former Oxford United player's football career.

In the years since the attack, Mrs Hughes, from Wallington, has fought tirelessly for justice and successfully campaigned to get European law changed to allow families to better access to legal experts while abroad.

The four attackers were allowed to return to the UK to await the retrial, which had been scheduled for last November but was adjourned at the 11th hour.