'I was just having a coffee'

Brutal: Dave Reynolds was severely beaten on his lunch break

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This is Dave Reynolds, a married father-of-two, who was enjoying a lunchtime coffee when he was pulverised with a hammer and left for dead in a pub toilet.

Doctors told him if he had have been hit at a slightly different angle he would have been dead, yet it has taken 11 days for police officers to turn up on his doorstep to investigate the matter.

Mr Reynolds, of Shawclough, has had facial-restructuring surgery on his face, and has suffered a fractured skull, fractured cheekbone and fractured wrist, after the attack at the Edwin Waugh, JD Wetherspoons pub, Heywood, on Thursday 9 July.

He told Rochdale Online News: “This was completely unprovoked. I was sat with two friends, with my laptop out, having a lunchtime coffee.

“Someone followed me into the toilet and as I turned, I felt the first blow to my cheekbone, then my head. I knew I was in serious trouble.

“I have no doubt in my mind that this person wanted to kill me.”

After numerous calls to Greater Manchester Police, a CID officer has agreed to visit Mr Reynolds today (Monday 20 July).

Mr Reynolds added: “I am very upset with the way this case has been handled, my life as I know it has been ruined, yet there is no sense of urgency from anyone.

“The person who did this might not even go to jail. If you don’t pay your TV licence or council tax, you get jailed, but if you do this to someone it is only potential jail, I find that hard to get my head around.”

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed the attack had taken place at 1.00pm on Thursday 9 July.

An arrest has been made in connection with the incident, and a man has been charged with Section 18 assault, and has been given bail at Rochdale Magistrates Court on Wednesday (15 July).