Sikh priest left brain damaged in Manchester attack will never fully recover

Video report by ITV Granada Reports Journalist Emma Sweeney

The family of a Sikh priest permanently brain damaged after a "mindless" attack in Manchester say they have lost the "main jigsaw piece of their life".

Avtar Singh, 63, was knocked unconscious and left for dead in the middle of Tib Street, in the Northern Quarter in June.

The man who was responsible, 28-year-old Claudio Campos, from Manchester, walked away from Singh's motionless body.

The judge called Mr Campos, of Ladybarn Lane, "cruel" as he was sentenced to three years in jail at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday.

More than three months on since the attack, Avtar remains in hospital and has been left with permanent brain damage.

His daughter, Sukhveer Singh said: "That night when we got the call we felt tremendously traumatised of what we had to see.

"It felt like that wasn't our dad lying there. This man who meant so much to us in our life is gone.

"That light in his soul has gone and even though he's still with us, you know that what he loved about life just isn't there for him anymore."

Mr Singh is a husband and father. He walked the same route to and from his workplace at textile factory for almost forty years.

The Chilean defendant pursued Mr Singh shortly after he walked past him and his Polish girlfriend at a pedestrian crossing.

Campos later told police his partner said a man had touched her bottom and she pointed to Mr Singh, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Eleanor Myers, prosecuting, said Campos was seen on CCTV footage pursuing Mr Singh who was trying to walk away from him.

Mr Singh then walked on to Tib Street in the city's Northern Quarter and was approached from the side by Campos who punched him twice to the head in quick succession.

Campos went on to grab his victim's shirt before he delivered another punch to the head which sent him sprawling to the ground and Campos on top of him.

He pushed himself off his victim and then coolly left the scene as Mr Singh lay unconscious in the middle of the road.

He went on to a sports bar for a beer and a burger with his girlfriend, Claudia.

Campos remained at large for three months until police received a tip-off after a CCTV appeal for help from the public.

When arrested a number of items were seized at a property in Fallowfield including a fully packed suitcase containing the jacket he wore that was captured on CCTV.

Campos said in interview he was out celebrating his fifth anniversary together with his girlfriend.

He said he had followed Mr Singh to "demand an explanation" and that when Mr Singh quickened his pace he felt "this made him guilty in trying to escape".

He denied the assault was because Mr Singh was wearing a turban.

Campos said he had thought of handing himself in when he realised the extent of Mr Singh's injuries from the media appeal.

He felt "very sorry" for what had happened.

Campos pleaded guilty last month to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The attack has left Mr Singh with loss of sight in one eye, partial loss of memory and currently unable to walk.

His son, Gurdas Singh said: "Dad has always taught us peaceful by nature. This person wasn't peaceful. To be human, you have to be humane.

"It's scarily quiet [without him there].

"Normally I'd hear my dad in the bathroom because he'd always wake up before me or it hear him doing his prayers downstairs. Now, you don't live.

"There's times where you try to smile and all of a sudden you're like, 'why am I smiling?' And you feel guilty for smiling.

Sukhveer added: "Those streets that even we frequented so much, we can't walk past without thinking back to that footage when we saw our dad left for dead."

As a British Sikh family, the Singh's would usually spend autumn and winter preparing and celebrating festivals such as Diwali and Christmas. But this year, they will not be doing so.

Sukhveer said: "How are we even going to celebrate those things without the person who makes them?

"Diwali is the festival of lights. How can we put lights out when the person who lights up our lives isn't with us right now? He's lying in hospital bed."

The family have been told it will be weeks or even months before Mr Singh returns home - and he will never make a full recovery.

Avtar and his loved ones will be forced to come to terms with a new normal

Sukhveer said: "We come from a religion that has taught us to live in peace. It's taught us to be calm. It's taught us to be without hatred.

"For the past three months, that's the only thing we've lived with is hatred because this person took away the main jigsaw piece in our life."

Avtar Singh's family have now started a Go Fund Me page to help bring him home from hospital.

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