There had been an extraordinary outpouring of sympathy. A wheelchair patient had been mugged and robbed of his holiday savings in broad daylight on the streets of Cork. In the incident, he suffered injuries to his already damaged spine, was relieved of £1,500, had his watch bashed about, and of course, there was the trauma.
The incident happened a week ago yesterday when Mr Gary Lair (37), from Cheshire, arrived in Cork to begin his holiday. By the following Wednesday the news was out.
The Cork Victim Support Group contacted the city's independent station, 96FM. By then Mr Lair was in a "satisfactory condition" at Cork University Hospital. There was outrage.
Mr James O'Sullivan, a spokesman for the Cork Business Association, rang the radio station to wonder aloud how the citizens of Cork could have turned a blind eye and passed on as poor Mr Lair was being set upon.
Mr Lair described his assailants to gardai. He said there were two of them, down-and-out types. He had asked them directions to the public toilets and they had kindly offered to take him in person. But in the Maylor Street area just off the main drag, they pounced, robbing him of the money which was on his lap in a rucksack, and tipping his wheelchair over.
Too afraid to ask for help, given what was after all a terrible experience in a strange city, he managed somehow to scramble back into the wheelchair and make his way to a telephone to contact the Garda authorities. He was then hospitalised.
96FM then took up the cause. Caller after caller telephoned to express outrage and offer financial help. The money flowed in, in cheques and notes until there was £1,600 in the kitty.
A shop in the city - Tony Fine Clothing - asked Mr Lair to call in when he was released from hospital and kit himself out. A hairdressing salon offered him a free cut; two hotels offered accommodation; a Thai restaurant asked him to come to dinner.
Mr Lair, now out of danger and out of hospital, accepted all offers. And then he went on air himself. He arrived in the studios of 96FM last Friday. He loved the people of Cork and their generosity. He loved the city and ultimately hoped to purchase a home there. He would not be put off by a couple of thugs. Every city had a few bad apples, he said.
However, the following day, Mr Lair was signing a statement for the Garda explaining that maybe he wasn't mugged at all and that perhaps the whole episode was the result of an epileptic fit.
He also agreed in the statement to hand back the money donated by the good people of Cork. During his radio interview, he indicated that he could well do with a camera and a new watch. He probably had other items on his shopping list too, but the Garda wasn't having it.
The security cameras covering Maylor Street showed no incident on Monday week last. Not a single witness came forward.
Mr Lair was given the price of a bus ticket to Rosslare and a ferry ticket to the UK and sent on his way. It was, said a Garda spokesman, the easiest way to deal with what appears to have been an elaborate hoax.
It is not clear whether Mr Lair made a miraculous recovery and walked off the ferry on the other side but there is some suggestion that he did have a back injury. His story was that he sustained crippling injuries while part of a search and rescue team in his home area four years ago. Inquiries made in Britain, though, failed to turn up any record of the accident.