A WOMAN whose partner was left with life-changing injuries in a one-punch assault has spoken of how she will be able to spend Christmas with him - out of hospital - for the first time since the horrific ordeal.

Caroline Sykes’s world was turned upside down when scaffolder Simon Hackett, her partner of 17 years, was punched in the face and knocked to the ground as he walked home from a night out in Buttershaw in 2015.

Simon, 37, suffered catastrophic head and brain injuries which have left him unable to talk or walk and totally dependent on nursing care.

His family was unsure if he would even survive the attack, with has left him needing countless operations. He is now cared for by the Hollybank Trust, but it’s hoped he will be able to move back home once adaptations, including an extension, are made to the house.

In March last year, Jordan Docherty was sentenced for four years in a young offender institution. Earlier this year, Caroline bravely confronted Docherty as part of the restorative justice programme, which brings together people harmed by crime and conflict and those responsible for it.

But she is now looking ahead to another year where the unimaginable impact of the assault still haunts her.

The pair have a 13-year-old daughter and Caroline says it was always a special time of year for the three of them and she has fond memories of Christmas shopping and going to see the pantomime at the Alhambra.

But that all changed after the assault, with Simon spending both Christmases in hospital. But this year, Caroline and her daughter will see Simon at the Hollybank Trust and have Christmas dinner with him.

She said: “The staff have become our family, they are very, very amazing. It gets very hard at Christmas. He’s not been here to get the tree out, to trim up and that kind of thing. He’s not been able to go shopping for presents with his daughter – he used to love doing that.

“It’s like grieving every day. For the new year, it has been very uncertain. Every day is different. Because of the extent of his injuries, it’s difficult to plan anything.”

It’s hoped Simon will one day be able to move back to the family home - a dream Caroline and her daughter are focusing on in the coming year.

She said: “I don’t think you can ever come to terms with it. You wish it was a dream, you wish it had never happened. Everybody says he’s so lucky because we’ve stuck by him, but we would not have it any other way. Just because he is in this place in his life, we are not going to forget about him. That will never, ever, be the case – we will always be a team.”

Since the attack, Caroline has backed West Yorkshire Police’s ‘One Punch Can Kill’ campaign and urged people to think about the potential consequences of throwing a punch.