Brutal attack follows 'telling off' for boys in car park

(First Edition)

A MAN who suffered multiple injuries in an apparent revenge attack after telling off two boys he found loitering by his BMW car was 'comfortable' in hospital yesterday.

Barry Hayes, 49, suffered horrific injuries and underwent a nine-hour operation to rebuild his face after he was attacked by a man in a pub car park at Garston, Liverpool.

Merseyside police appealed for witnesses to the 'brutal and sickening attack' outside the Heath Hotel in Greenhill Road.

Mr Hayes, a self-employed builder from the Grassendale area of south Liverpool, suffered a fractured skull, two shattered cheekbones, a broken nose and a collapsed lung. Surgeons who inserted metal plates in his cheeks carried out a tracheotomy because he could not breathe properly.

Mr Hayes spent 24 hours on a ventilator in the neurosurgical unit at Walton Hospital, Liverpool, but was later moved out of intensive care and into a ward.

The relief manager at the pub, Graham Bennett, said the regulars were 'very shocked' by the attack.

'Barry was a very happy-go-lucky sort of person. He comes in every day and has a few drinks before going home,' he said.

The incident happened last Thursday at about 9.30pm but details were not released until yesterday.

One of the car's two badges had been stolen two weeks earlier and Mr Hayes believed the boys were trying to detach the second during the incident.

Detective Inspector Noel Wright, of Garston CID, said: 'Mr Hayes saw two boys, aged 10 and 12, standing by his silver BMW. He remonstrated with them and the boys ran off.

'A couple of minutes later a sky blue Vauxhall Cavalier drove on to the car park with one of the boys in the back.'

The driver, in his early thirties, jumped out and leapt at Mr Hayes, repeatedly punching and kicking his head and body.

The attacker is described as white, between 30 and 35 years old, about 5ft 8ins tall, stockily built with very short, dark hair.

He was dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans. 'We are appealing for anyone who witnessed this assault to come forward,' Mr Wright said.

Mr Hayes's brother Carl said: 'Barry may never be the same again. He is a very keen gardener and he makes grandfather clocks as well. He enjoys driving. We go sea fishing together.'

Mr Hayes's sister-in-law, Frances Hayes, said: 'We are all in a state of total shock. He is a lovely man. Barry goes out of his way to help people. Now something like this has happened to him.'