Binge Britain: Prince William and a table full of drink...in a club where reveller was horrifically glassed an hour later

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Senseless: Joe Knight was beaten to death at the same nightclub where Prince William was partying with friends

A reveller suffered horrific facial injuries after being slashed with a broken bottle in a nightclub where Prince William had been partying with friends.

The future king had been downing £1-a-time shots of powerful Aftershock liqueur in Newquay's notorious Barracuda club early on Saturday morning.

Shortly afterwards, a fight broke out in the venue. The victim of the bottle attack required 35 stitches to his face and treatment to wounds he received on his hands as he tried to defend himself.

Three men have since been arrested but police are appealing for more witnesses to the attack. Clarence House confirmed that William had been at the club but said he left before the brawl broke out.

Sources close to the 25-year- old prince - who was accompanied by three Scotland Yard bodyguards, including a female officer - told the the Mail yesterday that he was shocked to hear that someone had been injured.

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Prince William and his friends are understood to have been enjoying drinks on the upper level of the Newquay bar when a fellow clubber was assaulted on the lower level this weekend

William, the second in line to the throne, was taking advantage of the unseasonably good weather to enjoy a boozy boys - on a West Country surfing weekend with a group of his closest friends, including Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, whose father, Sir Henry, is Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.

The party stayed at the exclusive £170-a-night The Hotel in Watergate Bay. After arriving on Friday, they headed straight out to the beach.

Later the 12- strong group popped into the St Mawgan's Falcon Inn for dinner. Landlady Jan Marshall said the prince chatted with staff and customers after arriving at 8.30pm and stayed until midnight.

She added: "It was clearly a lads' weekend away and the prince and his friends were in a happy, party mood. When he left he gave me a kiss on the cheek and said thank you very much."

Afterwards the party headed to Barracuda, which was packed with almost 500 people taking advantage of its £1-per-drink promotion.

The prince and his friends grabbed a table in the upstairs section of the building, away from the dance floor, where they sat downing bottles of VK vodka and sickly-looking shots of 40 per cent proof red Aftershock.

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The Prince chats to a friend in the nightclub. Later that evening, a teenager would be glassed at the same bar

The group stood out among the casually-dressed clubbers as most of them were wearing relatively smart jeans, shirts and jumpers and had "posh" accents.

Barmaid Samantha Bazeley, 22, said: "People were trying to go up to him but his minders were stopping them."

DJ Steve Merrick added: "They sat there drinking but the prince wasn't spotted on the dance floor."

The violence erupted around 2.30am in the main area of the club.

A 19-year-old local man was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, after being "glassed" with a broken beer bottle.

He received 15 stitches to his mouth and a further 20 to his face. He also suffered cuts to his wrists and a punctured hand.

Three men - two aged 18 and the third aged 19 - were arrested and have been bailed to return to Newquay police station on March 30.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "This was a very nasty assault. The three suspects were seen fleeing the club on CCTV and arrested.

"Inquiries are ongoing and we are asking anyone who may have information to come forward. The officers who attended the scene had no knowledge of the presence of Prince William in the nightclub."

A Clarence House spokesman said: "William's group arrived at the club just after midnight after going out for dinner and had a few drinks.

"They didn't really like the place, however, so they left about 1.30pm and decided to call it a night. Prince William was totally unaware of what subsequently happened."

The following day the prince and his friends were back on the beach - apparently none the worse for wear - before watching England's Six Nations rugby match against Italy.

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Prince William has been in training for the RAF in recent months

Later they enjoyed a meal at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant.

The group had a final breakfast on Sunday morning followed by a few more drinks on the balcony of their hotel.

William is training with fast jet pilots at Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, as part of a three-month attachment to the RAF.

The force has a strict alcohol ban which prevents flyers from having a drink within 12 hours of take-off.

As William was on a weekend off, this would not have affected him.

Venue that puts the wild in West Country

The Barracuda made national headlines in August 2006 when horrified holidaymakers saw two men beat a teenager to death outside the club.

Joe Knight, 19, was punched in the face and stamped on as he lay unconscious. He died the next day of bleeding on the brain.

Andrew Bray, 26, and Thomas Dickson, 38, were last year convicted of murdering the teenager. Dickson's boot matched that of an imprint left on the teenager's face.

At Truro Crown Court, Judge Graham Cottle said that the killing was "another act of senseless violence" which had tarnished the reputation of one of Cornwall's leading resorts.

The weekend's violent incident has again turned the spotlight on the Barracuda, a South Africathemedvenue which is trailed as one of the wildest nights out in the West Country.

According to regulars, it is full of heavy-drinking stag parties at the weekends, when it is open all day until 3am.

The Barracuda proudly advertises its "Sluts on the Dancefloor" promotions on Saturday nights, where clubgoers may get some "SOTDF" - Sex On The Dance Floor, if they are lucky.

William and his friends would have paid £6 to join the 500 other clubbers on Friday, which is the club's cut-price drinking night billed as the "£1 Party", with endless cheap shots of strong spirits on offer to revellers - and giant sumo wrestling thrown in for extra entertainment.

 

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