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Tommy Ward: Elderly British Man Beaten To Death By Robbers Who Stole His Life Savings

By Aaron Homer
Published on: 03:55 PST, Feb 24, 2016

An 80-year-old British man has died from his injuries after being severely beaten five months ago, by robbers who stole his life savings and then left him for dead, Sky News is reporting.

Tommy Ward succumbed to his injuries this week after being hospitalized since last October following a brutal beating at the hands of two or more individuals. Police say that on October 1, 2015, persons unknown stormed into Mr. Ward’s home and beat him severely, before making off with a safe full of cash, according to the Mirror.

Warning: The next portion of this article contains a graphic description of a horrible crime against an elderly person. This content may be disturbing to some readers.

The robbers left the veteran and former miner with a fractured skull, a broken jaw, and broken ribs following the “sustained” beating. They snapped his index finger in half, leaving it hanging by just the tendons. Doctors had to re-attach his scalp, which had been torn from ear to ear, during a six-hour operation.

After beating Mr. Ward and leaving him for dead, the thieves stole the man’s safe, containing his life savings, believed to be around £30,000 (about $42,000 at current exchange rates).

Mr. Ward’s daughter, 52-year-old Jackie Perry, could not understand why the thieves beat her father so badly, when they could have just taken what they wanted with little to no resistance from the elderly man.

“My dad only weighs nine stone (126 pounds). They could have just pushed him over and got what they wanted. Why did they have to be so violent? He must have gone through torture. Please help us find who did this. This could be your mum or dad. They are monsters.”

Mr. Ward’s son, Sean, 44, said that even during his father’s recovery, he was still reliving the beating that would ultimately kill him.

“You can still see the terror in his eyes. He starts breathing really fast then his arms shoot up. He’s on morphine but you can still see in his eyes he’s scared. “

Friends of Mr. Ward started a crowdfunding campaign to replace the money stolen from his safe. Within a few weeks, the GoFundMe campaign raised over £33,000 (about $46,000) — slightly more than what was stolen from him. While his family members were grateful for the donations, they were told the media that they were more focused on finding the “monsters” who assaulted the elderly man.

On Tuesday, five months after the severe beating, Mr. Ward, a great-grandfather 0f 15, died of his injuries at Rotherham Hospital.

A safe, similar to the one stolen from Mr. Ward’s home, was found abandoned nearby two weeks after the attack on the elderly man. Police have made several arrests in the case, including arresting two juveniles on suspicion of attempted murder, but all suspects have been released due to lack of evidence.

As of this writing, police have no suspects and no leads in Mr. Ward’s murder, according to Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Short.

“The police investigation surrounding what happened is very much ongoing and officers would still like to speak to witnesses, or anyone who has information about what happened. I urge anyone who has even the slightest piece of information to come forward and tell us what you know.”

[Image via Shutterstock/tomertu]

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