A COUPLE who were almost hacked to death in an horrific machete attack in the Caribbean say they are not giving up their battle for justice.

Peter and Murium Green have been fighting for compensation since the attack at their retirement home in Tobago five years ago, but so far have only received an ‘insulting’ £2,500 each.

This week the pair, from Wellington, told the County Gazette they had been in contact with Foreign Secretary William Hague in the hope of boosting their fight.

Mr Green, 70, said: “We’re still fighting and not giving in. It’s been hard and my health is getting worse but I’ve got one last fight in me.

“We’ve got close and got most of the pieces of the jigsaw and one day that magical final piece will turn up.”

Mr Green said they wrote to Mr Hague, with the help of Taunton Deane MP Jeremy Browne, as they try finally to put their nightmare behind them.

The couple say that even if somebody is brought to justice for their horrifying ordeal in 2009, the effects will stay with them forever.

“I want that man to stand in front of me before I die,” said Mr Green, who is battling prostate cancer. “I could not defend my wife that day and that will stay with me until my last breath.”

Mr Green was left blind in one eye and suffered permanent brain damage, while his wife is permanently scarred.

The attack is not the only incident they know to have taken place on the island, with a neighbour and friend also a victim.

Mr Green said: “You hear about attacks there all the time and people need to know it's a dangerous place.

“The authorities don’t like me because I am a constant reminder of what their republic stands for.

“They say I’ve ruined their tourism industry and had an effect on hoteliers, but people need to know how dangerous this place is.”

Mr Green said the whole experience has cost his family £470,000. In April 2011, the case against a 25-year-old Tobago man accused of the attack was discharged.