A CWMCARN man whose father was left brain damaged after a brutal attack last year has spoken of the effect the incident has had on the family.

Father-of-two Liam Dobbin, 23, admitted that his father Simon has yet to make the full recovery doctors anticipated he would make.

Mr Dobbin's father, who lived in Suffolk at the time of the incident, was attacked on the way to a train station in Southend, Essex, on March 21, 2015.

Since the attack, one man has been charged while 12 others have been summoned to Southend Magistrates’ Court on September 2.

According to Mr Dobbin, he was told by doctors that his father's heart had stopped for seven minutes leaving him brain-damaged and severely disabled.

More than a year on from the incident, the 44-year-old's son admitted that it's been a testing time for the family.

"Basically not a lot has changed to be honest," said Mr Dobbin, who lives with his partner, Sarah Parsons, and two sons, Tyler and Ollie.

"He knows who you are when you walk into a room but he’s just not the same person he used to be at all.

"He sung 'Happy Birthday' to my boy when we went up there to see him, but we had to prompt him to sing by singing back at him"

Following the attack, Mr Dobbin made a concerted effort to raise money for Headway, the brain injury charity who aided with his father's rehabilitation.

But with a young family, Mr Dobbin admitted that he's found it hard to continue fundraising and visit his father, who is now in 24-hour care in Oxford.

He said: "We raised just over £1000 for Headway, which was great, but since then I haven’t had the time with two kids.

"Luckily enough my partner just passed her driving test which allows us to ge up there but the round trip still costs £100.

"My older sister also lives closer to him in Milton Keynes but that's still two and a half hours away."

Mr Dobbin also revealed that he still has a huge impact on the lives of his grandsons, especially four-year-old Tyler.

He said: "He absolutely adores my dad. He’s got a shirt from his football charity event right next to his bed and every night he says goodnight to him."

Despite his father's current state, Mr Dobbin remains hopeful that his condition could improve some day.

Mr Dobbin said: "We just take it day by day and hope that something good comes out of it.

"There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened with him being kicked and punched on the ground. It's just sickening.

"Violence shows how it can not only change the life of one person but it can also rip an entire family apart".