'Wonderful' grandfather, 85, dies months after confronting burglars during home invasion
An 85-year-old grandfather has died months after confronting burglars at his home in Lancashire.
An 85-year-old grandfather has died months after confronting burglars at his home in Lancashire.
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Police were called before 3am on April 29th following a break-in at an address on Moss Close in Helmshore.
The offenders broke in and assaulted the pensioner when he confronted them.
The victim was taken to hospital with a head injury and cuts to the face and while he was originally discharged, he was taken back to hospital earlier this month. He sadly died on August 12th.
He has now been named as Gordon Nicholass who lived at the address with his wife.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time, and they are being supported by specially trained family liaison officers.
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'Wonderful husband, dad and granddad'
In a tribute Gordon’s family said: “Gordon was a wonderful husband, dad and granddad.
"He was a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast and well known for his engineering skills. He was always there to do anything for anyone- family, friends even strangers, you name it! Mister fix it, Jack of all trades, we will all miss him dearly."
A Home Office Postmortem examination into Gordon’s death has been carried out but further enquiries are being made to try and establish if the assault was a cause or contributory factor.
Police have launched an investigation, and enquiries are ongoing to try and identify the offender.
Extensive damage was caused to the property during the burglary although it does not appear that anything was taken.
Officers believe that the attack may have been targeted and we are working to try and establish a motive and the circumstances.
House to house enquiries are being carried out in the local area as well as checking CCTV and pursuing other lines of enquiry.
Det Chief Insp Jill Vescovi, of our Force Major Investigation Team, said: “First and foremost my thoughts are with Gordon’s family and loved ones. We will continue to offer them any support they need at this time.
“We are working hard to try and establish who has done this and why and I would appeal to anyone with any information, however insignificant they may think it is, to come forward and speak to us.
“I would ask anyone in the area to please check CCTV /Doorbell cameras for any suspicious activity, people or vehicles that may have been in the area at around the time of the offence or in the days beforehand.”