THE funeral of tragic Yorkshire Irish pensioner Tommy Ward has taken place, some seven months on from an attack that left him with horrific injuries.
Mr Ward, 80, passed away on February 23 of this year, almost five months after he was viciously assaulted at his home on October 1.
The attack left him with brain injuries, a broken jaw and a snapped index finger that was later amputated.
He spent the remainder of his life in hospital.
An initial post-mortem proved inconclusive, delaying the funeral considerably.
Now, as the Ward family finally laid Mr Ward to rest, his grandson says they are still awaiting closure.
“They haven’t really told us much,” Luke Ward, 28, told The Irish Post.
“So we still don’t have any closure about what has happened.”
In the attack on Mr Ward, a safe was also removed from the home which South Yorkshire Police say is believed to have contained £30,000 – which the Ward family say was his life’s savings.
A proud Irishman, Mr Ward was regularly seen in his local pub, The Manor, wearing Irish T-shirts and hats.
He was a reader of The Irish Post, which his family read to him in hospital, and a fan of Irish music.
His roots in Ireland went back to his grandmother, who came from Co. Galway.
Mr Ward’s funeral took place at Rotherham Crematorium and Cemetery yesterday.
His ashes were taken back to the South Yorkshire town of Maltby afterwards.
“We’re burying his ashes in my nana’s grave in Maltby,” Luke Ward revealed.
While the Wards are no more clear about what caused Mr Ward’s death, South Yorkshire Police continue to treat the probe into his assault as a murder investigation.
Three men were arrested in connection with the assault on the pensioner – a 23-year-old man was arrested in October and released on bail; while two 19-year-olds were also released on bail in January.
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