A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER coping with the aftermath of a vicious attack on her elderly husband which left him brain-damaged is suffering fresh heartache.

Pamela Moore was back beside her 66-year-old husband Brian's hospital bedside after he suffered another brain haemorrhage and stroke last month two years after he was savagely punched by a 15-year-old boy for defending his son, Andrew, from a gang of bullies in Westbury.

The great-grandfather's close-knit family including 10 children, 37 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren had been encouraged by a gradual improvement in his health since the attack outside the One Stop Shop in Queens Square in November 1999.

But two years on his family are once again left picking up the pieces of their shattered lives as Brian's health took a dramatic turn for the worse three weeks ago.

After he was admitted to the Royal United Hospital in Bath and then transferred to Trowbridge Hospital, Mr Moore's family brought him back to his Trowbridge home earlier this month.

Devoted wife Pamela said her husband's health has now regressed one-and-a-half years because of the devastating stroke. He is unable to speak, taste or smell and needs 24-hour care and attention.

She said: "I noticed Brian was not talking or saying anything when I gave him his dinner and I thought he was messing about.

"My son said something was wrong and we were later told the bad news at the hospital.

"We were heartbroken it has happened again. It has torn us apart and shattered our hopes.

"He has gone back to how he was six months after the assault. That boy has a lot to answer for.

"It is like a nightmare going over and over again. I am thinking about making him a book with pictures in so he can at least tell us what he wants."

Mr Moore's teenage attacker was jailed for 18 months after admitting grievous bodily harm but Mrs Moore said her family are facing a lengthier sentence.

She said her family are yet to receive a penny in compensation for the injuries to her husband.

"We are waiting to hear from the Criminal Injuries Board. I would like to pay for a carer to help us out so I can at least go shopping. I don't want to leave his side really," she said.

"It is like a timebomb and we don't know what will happen next. It's so sad."