Skewered with pitchfork and left for dead

A GRANDFATHER who had a pitchfork embedded in his skull has beaten the odds to survive - but his daughter says the horrific injuries have ruined the rest of his life.

Hugh Buckley, 54, was repeatedly stabbed and left for dead. Firefighters had to saw off the handle of the tool and doctors fought to remove its four prongs from his forehead as he battled for his life.

He spent three months in a coma and is now living in a specialist care home for people with brain injuries.

Daughter Kathleen Buckley, 35, said her family had been shattered by the brutal attack last July.

"The thought of that pitchfork covered in blood haunts me," she said.

"The fact that someone could take a big farming tool like that and put it in my dad's head makes me sick to my stomach.

"He will be scarred with those prongs for the rest of his life. The doctors saved him from death but he is not my dad any more.

"He's lost his life because of this, he is in a home needing 24-hour care and unable to speak when he should be happy, he should be healthy and playing with his grandchildren."

Mr Buckley, a father-of-six and grandfather-of-seven, was attacked with the tool on 14 July last year in Clydebank, Glasgow.

The High Court in Dumbarton heard he had gone round for dinner to a friend's house.

The jury was told his friend, who was paranoid and believed he was being watched and had had his food poisoned, left the room during the visit.

He returned with a pitchfork and began attacking Mr Buckley with it, repeatedly stabbing him in the head.

The grandfather was left lying unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood, where he was found with the pitchfork sticking out of his neck the next day.

He stayed in intensive care for three months, in a deep coma, from which it was thought he might never wake. Ms Buckley said: "I sat there crying every day, begging him to wake up."

When he opened his eyes finally, he only regained the movement in his right arm and leg and did not speak again.

He was transferred to Murdostoun Castle, a brain injury specialist home in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, last November.

A speech therapist has tried to break through his silence but so far Mr Buckley cannot speak about his attack.

His alleged attacker pled not guilty to assault to severe injury, causing permanent impairment and attempted murder at the High Court in Dumbarton.

A jury acquitted the defendant by majority on the grounds of insanity and the court made a temporary order for him to be sent to a hospital for mental health treatment.

He will appear again, for a permanent order to be decided, on 20 May.

Meanwhile, Hugh's family fight to pick up the pieces after the pitchfork attack.Ms Buckley said: "I miss him, I miss his chat and his funny anecdotes.

"Sometimes I can't help but think it would have been better if he was gone because I can't see much of him left. But we keep hoping one day he will be better, that's all we can do."