THE victim of a brutal beating he says left him with injuries from which he suffers to this day is still fighting for justice more than 16 years after the alleged attack.
Michael Dillon suffered brain damage in the incident in January 2002 which has left him with short term memory loss, total loss of his sense of taste, sense of smell, and total hearing loss in his left ear.
It also left him with epilepsy and he is unable to work.
He has never received any compensation for his injuries and his alleged attacker remains ‘at large’, because Michael has never been able to convince the authorities his story is true.
The other version of the events seemingly accepted by both police and the courts is that he was drunk and fell down the stairs.
“I need justice for what happened to me,” said Michael, 61, of Worsbrough Bridge, who said his attacker, a man he had at the time never seen before, was an ex-partner of his girlfriend at the time.
“He was on my landing, and I said ‘could you leave please, I don’t know you’. Next thing he smashed me in the face and then hit me on the head with a baseball bat.
“I don’t remember anything after that, the rest came from witnesses.”
Michael said he believes he was bundled down the stairs and outside, where several neighbours described the attack continuing after Michael came ‘flying out of the house’ backwards.
It is alleged the man repeatedly beat Michael in an attack said to have lasted seven or eight minutes in the front garden and path.
But when police eventually arrived, it was a bloodied Michael who was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. He was never charged.
The alleged attack happened at Michael’s then home in South Drive, Bolton-upon-Dearne.
Nobody has ever been brought to justice. Michael has made several complaints, including to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, about his wrongful arrest, but they have come to nothing.
He also mounted a case with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme in search of compensation for what happened to him.
The case was heard at a tribunal in 2009. He had been in touch with his MP at the time, Mick Clapham, who had helped put him in touch with Raleys Solicitors and a barrister was instructed on his behalf.
But the case was adjourned, and when the final hearing came, his barrister, with whom Michael had a good working relationship, was not available and another barrister stood in.
Now retired, Mr Clapham said he remembered the case well and said it was a sad story.
“He definitely had a case,” he told the Chronicle this week. “It’s absolutely terrible the injuries he suffered.
“On the day he had a different barrister, Michael went off on a tangent in the hearing and didn’t do himself any good. Sadly he was unable to convince the judge.
“I believe it might have been a different outcome if it had been the barrister he had been working with. We don’t know that, we can’t know that, but I feel he might not have let Michael go off on a tangent like he did.
“I think it would be very difficult to get that case back on its feet now.”
Michael is now being supported by Ben Whitehead, of Whitehead and Baybay Students At Law, who is helping Michael progress his fight for justice.
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: “Investigations are rarely ‘closed’. Instead, they lay dormant pending further information coming to light that could enable our officers to apprehend suspects or identify further lines of enquiry.
“Should more information come to light about this particular case, it would be examined and assessed to ensure lines of enquiry are followed up.”
