The aunt of a Bolton teenager who was murdered has said the family can 'take no more' after her brother was brutally attacked leaving him with a bleed on the brain.
James Turner came out of a shop on Broach Street, Great Lever, near Bobby Heywood Park on Friday evening at around 9.30pm.
His family say he was accosted by a group of around six to eight young men who beat him and stole his bike.
The 50-year-old relied upon the bike, described as his “pride and joy” to get from his home in the centre of Bolton to relatives in Great Lever.
He was taken to Salford Royal Hospital and was found to have suffered a bleed on the brain and a collapsed lung.
He sustained serious facial injuries with both his eyes sockets damaged.
He remains in hospital.
Police cordoned off the scene at the time and have attended at hospital to interview Mr Turner.
Sister Michelle Phillips, the aunt of Reece who was murdered in May of last year, found her brother seriously injured.
She said the family is suffering.
She said: “I got the call of my sister saying James had been assaulted.
“I went down, he was in an ambulance, police were there and had cordoned the area it off.
“I feel sick, I feel ill.
“Last year we lost our nephew Reece Tansey, he got stabbed to death.
“This family cannot take any more.
Fellow sister, Laura Tansey, Reece’s mother, added: “After our Reece was murdered everybody has changed in our family.”
She added: “The bike was James’s pride and joy, he suffers from fractured ankles so he needs it to get from A to B.
“There is a lot of trouble in the area.
“Last month some one was walking through the park and got beaten up.”
Reece died after being stabbed six times in Walker Avenue.
GMP have been approached for a comment on the attack on Mr Turner.
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