A SHEFFIELD grandfather was undergoing surgery last night – more than a week after he was attacked by three youths while on holiday in Skegness.
Billy Elliott, aged 54, from St Aidan's Road, Norfolk Park, had taken his three grandchildren to the seaside town for a week's holiday.
But their trip came to an abrupt end when the thugs attacked him last Thursday morning because he didn't have a cigarette to give them.
Mr Elliott, a former welder, had gone out from Summerlands Caravan Park, where he was staying with his family, to buy a newspaper.
He was walking along the seafront, near the Butlin's holiday complex, when he was approached.
When he told the youths he didn't smoke, one of them jumped on his back. He was forced to the floor, where they repeatedly kicked him in the head.
He was left with a broken jaw, nose and cheeks, two black eyes and some missing teeth. He was taken to Skegness Hospital and then Boston's Pilgrim Hospital, before being transferred to Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire.
Last night, he was in the operating theatre undergoing surgery to reconstruct his face.
Daughter Kerry Heeley, 30, said: "Ever since I was a little girl, dad would go out and get the morning paper. But you don't expect to get beaten up just walking to the shops.
"It's heart-breaking. How could they do that to him?
"He had to stop work four years ago because he had a stroke. He can't feel anything down his left side – how could teenagers beat up someone like that?
"Dad told me he just lay there. He couldn't do anything at all."
Police are looking for three white youths who are about 18 years old. No arrests have yet been made.
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