Paul Marshallsea, a 62-year-old Welsh charity worker was revered as a hero after he risked his life and wrestled a 6-foot shark away from children at an Australian beach.
But Marshallsea, who had been on sick leave with work-related stress at the time, was fired from the charity he worked for after videos of his vacation heroism surfaced on the Internet.
Paul (middle) on vacation in Australia with his daughter (left) and wife (right)
Marshallsea was enjoying his time off in Australia — barbecuing on the Sunshine Coast — when he heard a desperate father-of-three cry, “Help, shark!” Marshallsea sprang into action. As the 62-year-old attempted to move the shark away from shore, a local news team as well as terrified onlookers grabbed their cameras and recorded his brave efforts. The story immediately caught international attention as uploaded images of the shark-wrestling hero spread around the world.
Unfortunately for Marshallsea, the video landed on the screens of the trustees of the Pant and Dowlais Boys & Girls Club, the children’s charity for which he worked. After leaving Australia, Marshallsea, who has been absent and “ill” with “work-related stress” since April 2012, arrived to his home in South Wales and found a letter from his employers stating:
Whilst unfit to work you were well enough to travel to Australia and, according to recent news footage of yourself in Queensland, you allegedly grabbed a shark by the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the way; the photographs and footage appearing in newspapers and television broadcasts.
Paul Marshallsea back home in Merthyr Tydfil.
The shark-wrestler and his wife Wendy were shocked with the news — finding it unbelievable that a children’s charity would fire Paul for attempting to save childrens lives. “If I hadn’t gone in to save the kids on that beach that day my wife and I would still have a job,” Marshallsea told WalesOnline.
Marshallsea said he hardly escape the encounter without injury. “He turned on me and just missed me with a bite,” he revealed to reporters. “The shark nearly took my leg off in a split second, it was that quick.”
Marshallsea may have been able to keep his leg, but the shark took his job.
Paul Marshallsea: Shark Wrestler