Family sickened by 'hate crime'

The family of Middleton resident Ryan Collins have been left sickened after he was attacked in a “hate crime” that left him covered in blood and bruises.

Ryan, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and autism, was walking along Oldham Road, Middleton on Sunday 11 October at around 3:30pm when a silver van mounted the kerb and attempted to hit him.

Speaking to Rochdale Online, his mum Lesley Collins said: “Because of the illnesses that Ryan has, he doesn’t often go out but he has started to go out for walks around Middleton so he can stop his boredom. He was out wearing a Union Jack onesie when a silver van mounted the kerb and tried to hit him.”

Ryan then jumped into a nearby bush before the van attempted to hit him again. Ryan eventually got up and began to make his way home. As he made his way down Hilton Fold Lane, a man on a black motorbike approached him and hit him with what Ryan describes as a hammer.

Lesley added: “He noticed this bike and he felt uneasy about it so he crossed the road and continued walking. He was then hit in the back of the head with a hammer.”

Lesley and the family now want the men apprehended for what they did.

She added: “It is disgusting and is a hate crime. To think that they can do that to someone in broad daylight and there were witnesses, it just makes me sick. I want them caught because this will have set Ryan back years. All of the hard work that has been done by us and the mental health team is now all wasted because this will have knocked him back.”

Following the attack Ryan was left covered in blood and bruises and had to go to the dentist to address issues with his teeth.

“What I can’t get my head around is if both attacks were down to the same person,” said Lesley. “For someone to be attacked twice in that short a space of time is like one in a million, but whoever it was needs catching. We have no idea who it was or why they targeted Ryan but it’s disgusting to think what was going through their heads. If he had been hit by the van, then I could have been identifying him and that doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Greater Manchester has confirmed that no arrests have been made.