A MAN who suffered an horrific attack at the hands of two thugs which left him fighting for his life in a coma has turned his life around.

Jonathan Latham has vowed not to let the two men who carried out the attack after a Christmas party, and who have never been caught, ruin his future as he carves out a new career.

The 35-year-old, from Acomb, York, was set upon in December 2007 following a night out in the city centre. The attack left him with severe head injuries.

Jonathan’s short-term memory was damaged and the bouts of amnesia he now suffers mean he struggles to remember the moments leading up to the assault, which left his life in the balance and meant he was dependant on his mother’s care for six months.

CCTV footage he has seen reveals how two men ran up to him as he walked alone through Davygate on his way back to his friend’s home in the Leeman Road area at about 2am on December 19.

The force of the punches and kicks knocked him unconscious. A passing taxi driver who saw Jonathan lying on the ground alerted police. Jonathan’s next memory was emerging from his coma in York Hospital four days later, on Christmas Eve, with his parents by his bedside.

Jonathan came out of hospital on New Year’s Day and was unable to return to his job as part of a management technical support team at insurance firm Norwich Union for more than a year.

He lived with his mother in Elvington for six months as he travelled the long road to recovery.

After moving to his own flat in Holgate, Jonathan resumed his job on a part-time basis, but left last month.

He said: “My job was quite technical and I was well thought-of, so it was hard to be back there. With the effects on my abilities and memory loss, it was a struggle.”

Jonathan had voluntarily shadowed the York Railway Institute cricket groundsman at New Lane sports ground in Holgate, and when the position became vacant in 2009, he took over.

It inspired him to set up his own gardening company, A J Lawn Care, and he is now studying for a diploma in Horticulture at Askham Bryan College.

To contact Jonathan, phone 07584 199001, email info@ajlawncare.co.uk or log on to ajlawncare.co.uk