Simon Dobbin: Injured fan's wife calls for harsher sentences

The wife of a football fan left brain damaged after an attack by rival fans says she is "sickened" that they "can get on with their lives".

Cambridge United supporter Simon Dobbin has been unable to walk or talk since the "ambush" by a group of Southend United fans in March 2015.

His wife Nicole called for harsher sentences in public violence incidents.

The couple's home in Mildenhall, Suffolk, featured in the latest series of television programme DIY SOS.

Thirteen men were convicted of the attack on Mr Dobbin, with their sentences ranging from 16 months to five years.

But Mrs Dobbin said their lives had been changed forever by the attack, while the perpetrators were now able to continue with theirs.

She said: "It sickens me really because they can get on with their lives, nothing has changed for them really, they have spent a little bit of time in prison. Our lives have changed completely; the future we had planned is not there anymore."

Simon Dobbin, with his daughter Emily (left) and wife Nicole, was attacked by rival football fans

She added: "I think the sentencing around violent public disorder needs to be changed, because the maximum is five years. Especially when you do injuries like they have given Simon, he is never going to recover from this fully, so the sentencing should be done around the attack and what injuries that person sustained.

"They have still got a life, they can still go out, Simon can't do anything on his own."

Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS team visited the couple around a year ago to carry out a transformation of their home to fit Mr Dobbin's needs.

As well as monitors so Mrs Dobbin can keep an eye on her husband, doors have been widened, access has been made easier for Mr Dobbin's wheelchair and he now has his own space to watch television.

She added that by airing the TV show she hoped her husband's attackers and their families could see what they had done to him and deter others from getting involved in such attacks.