The sister of a man who died seven years after a single punch attack, while walking home from a night out, said she did not feel like ‘justice has been fully served’
The sister of a man who was left brain dead after a single-punch attack revealed the horror he suffered with before he tragically died.
Simon Hackett had been at a working men’s club when former football hooligan Jordan Docherty punched him to the ground, as he walked home from a party. Simon was attacked in 2015 but was left unable to talk or walk for seven years after the horrific attack, before he sadly died in 2022.
The victim’s sister Alicia Manners, 39, said her whole family has been left devastated and said she did not feel like “justice has been fully served” after his attacker was left off after less than three years behind bars.
Simon, then 35, had been attacked by then-20-year-old Docherty, following a party at the Buttershaw Lan Working Men’s Club in Bradford, in September 2015.
A judge told a court, in 2022, that Docherty was at the party with his cousin and “issues arose between the cousin and Simon and the defendant approached him”. The judge added that there was an “altercation” and Simon’s friend suggested they leave the party, but the pair were followed on their way home shortly after midnight.
Docherty punched Simon to the ground and he was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary, where he stayed for a year. Doctors confirmed the man suffered a “severe traumatic brain injury” and suffered “medical complications”. After spending a week in a medically induced coma, doctors removed part of Simon’s skull to relieve pressure.
Simon, who had a young daughter, spent years in hospitals and care homes but sadly died after suffering with pneumonia in March 2022. Jordan Docherty, 30, had already been jailed for assaulting Simon Hackett in September 2015, but was put jailed for manslaughter after he lost his life in 2022.
Simons’ sister, speaking to The Sun, said: “I remember getting the call to say Simon was in hospital and when I got there, I was just shocked by what I saw. My big brother was unconscious with tubes everywhere, and a hole in his throat so he could breathe – I could barely recognise him. I was told there’s a 95 per cent chance he won’t survive, and he did survive, but he was never the same again.”
She added: “I hope Docherty’s life is ruined, because the attack ruined Simon’s family, and I don’t feel justice has been fully served. But now I want to raise awareness to reframe the tragedy by bringing something good out of something catastrophic. I feel I have a job to do.”
