The family of a grandfather attacked after a night out fear he may never be able to walk again.

Colin Flett was found unconscious in West Hampstead by paramedics at about 11.30pm on Friday, July 7 after leaving The Beaten Docket pub in Cricklewood Broadway.

According to the police during the evening Mr Flett bought a blue Reebok brand bike and was cycling in Skardu Road when three men pushed him off.

The 52-year-old – who has been left paralysed – cannot remember what happened after the attack that followed.

The former sheet metal worker’s 75-year-old mother, Kay Flett, said: “His life is finished. The doctors say it’s as if he’s in a concrete jacket because he can’t move. He will probably need full time carers. We’re walking about in a nightmare.”

Describing her son as a “happy-go-lucky” person, Mrs Flett told how the Edinburgh born family man was forced to give up work due to epilepsy but kept busy volunteering as a carer for an elderly neighbour in Cricklewood who suffers from dementia.

The day after the attack Mrs Flett and her husband James, 77, rushed to their son’s bedside from their home in Inverkeithing, Scotland, following a call from St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

But Mr Flett’s mother said his 34-year-old daughter Suzie and granddaughter Rhiannon, who also live in Scotland, are frantic with worry but unable to afford the train journey.

“I’ve been going to the chapel all the time to say prayers for him,” Mrs Flett said before adding that her son had called days before the attack to tell his parents – whose oldest son James was killed in a road accident 26 years ago – he had booked his train ticket for a visit this month.

“He would’ve been with us now. His bed is there waiting. We don’t know what to do,” she said.

Instead their son – who is being looked after in hospital by his sister Katherine – is recovering from a spinal injury and faces what doctors have described as a long period of hospital recovery.

Det Sgt Richard Greenwood said: “This was a vicious attack that has left Colin with life-changing injuries, in a very vulnerable state, and has had a devastating effect on his family.”

The men who attacked Mr Flett are described as being white and aged between 20 to 30.

Anyone with information should call 0766 781 861 or 101.