Messages of support have been flooding in for a west Cumbrian groom-to-be allegedly conned out of £13,000 by his fiancee.

Chris Mahone, 27, of Cleator Moor, near Whitehaven, had been due to fly out to Ibiza for his stag do with 29 of his friends - who had each stumped up almost £450 to pay for the four-day trip.

But it is reported that, when the Sellafield worker and his stags turned up at Leeds airport on Thursday for their early morning flight, they were told by airline staff that their tickets were fakes.

Mr Mahone claims his bride-to-be, Rachel Doran, who organised the trip, has fled their home with the money.

It has been reported that his fiancee may have been taking revenge after mistakenly believing he had cheated on her.

Mr Mahone, who is photographed with Miss Doran on his profile picture, has since taken to Facebook to apologise to his mates.

He wrote: “Well words cannot describe the pain and feels that are playing with my head today, I totally want to apologize to all my fantastic mates that were gonna celebrate what was supposed to be my stag do.

“I can’t apologize enough, l’m sorry boys I really am.”

Just days earlier he and his friends had

been excitedly discussing their pending trip on social media posting, “Anybody fancy Ibiza?”.

Friends, family and even strangers from across the globe have since posted messages of support on Facebook.

Rob Wahedi wrote: “Mate I am absolutely gutted for you and the lads. I can’t imagine what is in your head right now but chin up, life doesn’t stop here. All the best mate.”

John Murphy said: “Chris, you’ve got nothing to be worried about, sometimes things happen outside your control. Make sure you’re in amongst the lads this weekend. Cleator Moor’s got your back.”

Gareth Evans wrote: “You have nothing to apologise for bro, you have done nothing wrong, like a few have said before take it day by day and the boys will help u thru this, stay strong buddy.”

Natalie Brown also wrote: “Hope ya ok pal. Anyone who knows you knows you have nothing to apologise for.”

Sharon Lacey added: “I really feel for you Chris, keep your head held high Xx.”

Other messages came from the USA, New Zealand and the Philippines and there were offers of donations to fund a holiday for Chris and his pals.