VIOLENT thugs may have attacked and fatally injured a 'gentle giant' because he had tried to make friends with them in a park.

Grieving family and friends of 6ft 2in, 18-stone Andrew Anderson, blasted the 'feral youths' who they suspect murdered him simply because he tried to befriend them.

The 47-year-old dad was sitting on a bench in Elms Park playing fields in Whitefield, when a gang of three young men launched a sickening and unprovoked attack.

One punched him to the ground and all three then punched and kicked their victim as he lay defenceless on the grass until he slipped into unconsciousness.

When he came round, Andrew staggered to a friend's house. He was taken by ambulance to hospital.

The attack happened on March 1 and Andrew has been in intensive care in Bury's Fairfield Hospital until he died on Monday morning.

A police investigation into the attack could turn into a murder inquiry if post mortem tests being carried out prove his death was caused by the attack.

Andrew, originally from Irlam, loved going to the park and would have tried to befriend his attackers, according to his family.

His step-sister, Elaine Grindrod, 50, told the M.E.N: "We're devastated. I'm broken-hearted. He didn't have any enemies. He was always happy and laughing. He would say hello to anyone. He liked to go to the park on his own and have a think. That was his way. He had the heart of a giant. He was really gentle. He wasn't a trouble-maker. He'd take anybody on as a friend. He probably tried to be friends with them."

Feral youths

Andrew's best friend Gillian Wilcox, 48, said: "They murdered him. They are feral youths and they need to be caught before they do it to somebody else. They can't have been brought up properly. There was no reason for it. I saw him in hospital on Sunday. I thought he was getting better. They had taken him out of the intensive care unit and he was on an ordinary ward. He could not speak very much because of his condition. All that he could say was that it was three teenagers. He swallowed a lot of blood and got a lung infection with the swelling and bleeding.

"He was a good friend of my husband's until he passed away 18 months ago. Andy got me on my feet again. He was a very good friend.

"It's such a shock to all of us. I can't believe it's happened."

Gillian added that Andrew, who has lost touch with his children, had problems with alcohol but was `strong as an ox'.

"He didn't die because of alcohol abuse. He died because he was attacked. They murdered him," said Gillian.

Battered and bleeding, Andrew staggered into Gillian's house after the beating at Elms Park playing fields off Dunkirk Road in Whitefield, on Sunday night, March 1.

A post mortem carried out by a Home Office pathologist failed to establish a cause of death and more tests are being carried out.

Det Insp Sarah Jackson, of Bury CID, said: "After he was brutally attacked for no reason, Andrew was left lying in a hospital bed for almost three months and sadly he has now died.

"He suffered a number of illnesses while in hospital and the initial Home Office post-mortem was inconclusive in terms of proving whether the assault led to his death, so this remains very much a live police investigation.

"We are doing everything we can to find Andrew's attackers and the public can play a part in taking them off our streets.

"If you do know something, or you witnessed anything suspicious in the park that night, please search your conscience and come forward."

Anyone with any information is asked to call Bury CID on 0161 856 8248 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.