Coma boy responds to GCSE results

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The mother of a 16-year-old in a coma after being attacked outside a Majorcan nightclub said he raised his eyebrows when he was told he passed 10 GCSEs.

Alex Hughes, from Radyr, Cardiff, has been unconscious for three weeks after being hit over the head with a bottle while on a family holiday.

His mother Helen Hughes, 43, picked up his results and took them to the intensive care unit in Cardiff.

Three teenagers have appeared in a Spanish court over the attack.

Ms Hughes said she was convinced her son had heard her and was able to acknowledge that he had passed.

She said she was keeping his grades a secret until he was well enough to talk to his friends about them himself.

"Seven of his friends came in to see him later to talk about their results and it happened again," she said.

We hope it is just a matter of time before he will be on the road to recovery Helen Hughes

"There was a response - it was just a slight movement but it has given us hope.

"We hope it is just a matter of time before he will be on the road to recovery."

His divorced parents Dr Dermot Hughes, 47, and Ms Hughes have been keeping a round-the-clock vigil at his bedside in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. Sisters Jessica, 19, and Ciara, 12, have also been visiting.

The teenager needed life-saving surgery in Spain to reduce the swelling on his brain and has been in a coma since the 2 August attack in Port d'Antratx.

He was flown home to hospital in Cardiff where he is on the high-dependency neuro ward where he is in a critical but stable condition.

Any charges brought by the Spanish courts will depend on Alex's long-term injuries.