Injured football fan walks again with exoskeleton

A football fan who was left with life-changing injuries after being attacked by rival supporters ahead of a match is learning to walk again.

Sean Cox suffered brain injuries after the unprovoked assault ahead of Liverpool's Champions League semi-final against Roma in April 2018.

Liverpool fans have contributed to almost £1.8m in funds raised to help pay for his rehabilitation.

Mr Cox, from Dunboyne, Ireland, has now started sessions with an exoskeleton.

An exoskeleton is a supportive structure which helps people with reduced mobility walk with help from a trained handler as part of physiotherapy.

His wife Martina said seeing him walk for the first time in five years was "really, really emotional".

"We don't know what's going to come out of this but, psychologically, it's really good for him," she told RTE.

Mr Cox's family home has been adapted using money fundraised online

The money raised for Mr Cox has been used for alterations to the family's home, speech therapy and physical therapy at Dublin City University using the exoskeleton.

"Sean has only started on that and hopefully, he'll get a good few sessions out of that but, again, it's down to funding," Mrs Cox said.

"It's tough, some days he mightn't be in the mood but, you know, we just kind of rally him on."

Sean Cox travelled to Liverpool for the Champions League semi-final in April 2018

In 2019 Roma fan Simone Mastrelli was jailed for three and a half years after he admitted unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Cox.

Two other Roma fans were also jailed for violent disorder outside the ground.

Mrs Cox added: "The three guys, they actually got home to Italy before Sean came home to Dunboyne. He was still in rehab and they had been released from prison."

She also explained how Mr Cox had continued to develop his speech and movement since the attack five years ago.

Mrs Cox said seeing her husband walking was "really, really emotional"

"Sean's memory wouldn't be great, his short-term memory would not be good," she said.

"So, I would just keep repeating, I'm probably like a broken-down record, I just repeat, repeat, repeat. And then, it gets into Sean and he'd know what's actually happening."

She said Mr Cox still loved going to Anfield to watch Liverpool. "It's like a tonic for Sean, it really is," she said.

"Sean had to battle to stay alive, you know, but he is here to tell the tale."

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