The brother of a man murdered by his own son has described watching him drift towards death on Father’s Day.
Neil Farrington was kicked, beaten and stamped on by 28-year-old Neil Badrock on May 17 last year.
Mr Farrington had tried to stop his drunken son from getting into trouble but instead ended up the victim of a brutal attack lasting more than five minutes.
READ MORE: Man who murdered his own dad emotionless as he's jailed for life
He died weeks later after doctors found he was unlikely to ever recover from his extensive injuries.
Badrock admitted manslaughter but had denied murdering his dad.
But a jury found him guilty last month and he was jailed for a minimum of 19 years yesterday.
Speaking at Badrock’s sentencing hearing, Neil Farrington’s brother James called his nephew “a coward” who inflicted a “breathtakingly brutal, cowardly and senseless” assault on 51-year-old Neil Farrington.
James Farrington described being told that his brother had been attacked and worrying about how to tell Badrock about it, without releasing he himself was the perpetrator.
He said: “I was at that point informed that my brother’s son had been arrested in connection with the attack.
“Seeing my brother in the state he was in was heart breaking and painful, more so because of the circumstances of the attack and who was involved.”
He said he had received messages from Badrock on WhatsApp the day before in which the two men had exchanged football banter, a routine thing for him to do with his nephew.
It was barely 12 hours later that the 28 year old murdered his own dad and Mr Farrington’s brother.
James Farrington said he remained “distraught to imagine what pain and panic my brother had endured” during the lengthy attack.
He said: “I could not believe that his own son, the most important person in the world to him, was responsible for this.”
Neil Farrington spent weeks in hospital as doctors tried to help him, yet his extensive head injuries meant he never recovered his lost brain function.
James described the family's decision to start end of life care for his brother on June 19 after a discussion with doctors.
He said: “All hope was lost.
“It was at that point that end of life care was started. Discussing and agreeing that with other family members was heart breaking and devastating.
“This was especially difficult on Sunday 20th June, when I watched him slipping away on Father’s Day of all days.”
Mr Farrington died in the early hours of the following morning.
James Farrington said the family were still struggling to come to terms with what Badrock had done.
He said: “I cannot believe his own son carried out such a cowardly and vicious assault on his dad.
“He is a complete coward in my book.
“The silence from him at times has been deafening.”
The family released another statement after Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, thanking the police and the Kirkby community for the support they received in the aftermath of the murder.
The statement said: "This past week has been especially harrowing and heart breaking for my whole family as each day we have had to sit through Neil Badrock’s trial for the cowardly, brutal and totally senseless murder of his own father and our much loved and much missed brother Neil Farrington.
"We will never forgive Neil Badrock for taking our brother from us in this way and for the devastation and heart break he has brought to all our lives.
"We would like to thank the team at Merseyside Police for their fantastic support throughout. From 17 May 2021 when the attack happened right through to the guilty verdict today their professionalism and compassion has shone through.
"We would also like to thank the many members of the Kirkby community who came forward with valuable information and testimonies to help us secure justice. Life will never be the same for any of our family but today’s verdict will help us a little as we try to rebuild our lives."
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