THE father of a 21-year-old man stabbed three times outside an Oldham town centre nightclub has put up a £5,000 reward for information leading the conviction of the gang of thugs who carried out the vicious attack.

Thomas Hickey also suffered a shattered leg after being forced to vault railings as he fled at least five Asian men who chased him after he left the Liquid Envy nightclub from its Retiro Street in the early hours of March 24.

His father Martin, aged 63, told The Oldham Times today he had dipped into his pension to put the reward to try to help the police catch the gang and get justice for his son, who has suffered life-changing injuries to his leg.

“He will never play football again,” said Mr Hickey of the former St Augustine’s School, Oldham pupil. “He’s just a happy go lucky kid, likes going out, never wants to cause any trouble.

Mr Hickey, who is a financial adviser continued: “His attackers are wicked people and they need to be caught and that’s why I’m offering a £5,000 .

“I’m taking it from my pension fund to do it. I think it’s worth it, not only for my son, but it might stop someone else being attacked.

“You want to know you are safe when you go for a night out. My message is please help the police, there’s a £5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of these people.”

The man leading the investigation into the attack, Det Insp Ian Harratt, said two men had been arrested following the attack, but released under investigation.

He said: “On the night in question, Thomas was enjoying a good night out and there had been an altercation between someone and one of Thomas’s friends that didn’t even involve him.

“At around 2.30am he came out of the nightclub and walked down Retiro Street, unaward that someone was walking behind him.

“When he turned the corner, he got punched in the face before running away.

“In his way there’s a railing and he tries to vault the railing not realising that below there’s quite big drop.

“When he hit the ground, he shattered his knee, sustained a horrendous injury to his leg, that could affect him for the rest of his life.

“He was there on the ground lying defenceless, he and couldn’t move with a shattered leg and these animals jump on him like a pack of dogs and he got stabbed twice in the head.

“He also got puncture marks in his back.”

Mr Harratt said there had been limited response from the public following appeals for witnesses and information which would lead to the conviction of the gang.

He went on: “What we’re appealing for now is that we need the community to say that this isn’t right.

“We need people to stand up and be counted, to come forward. Because it’s not the police who’re going to solve this, it’s the community coming forward to help us.

“That’ what we’re relying on here. We can’t have thugs and hooligans like this within the community.

“I’m hoping and I’m certain, these guys will have been bragging about it. To them this is something they’d be happy with because of the mentality they’ve displayed is that of thugs. Somebody out there knows who it is, knows what they’ve done.

“And I need them to come forward and help us catch these guys. We’ve got to get justice for Thomas for his mum and dad and for the rest of the family, and, I’ve got to also emphasise, lots and lots of innocent people come out to enjoy a night out in Oldham town centre.

“It is generally a safe place. And we can’t anything like this to continue. The best thing we can do is bring these people in and get justice for Thomas and his family.”