Hundreds mourn Lichfield father attacked outside home
HUNDREDS of mourners gathered today for the funeral of a father of five who was attacked as he returned home from a shop.
Michael Eccles, of Lichfield, Staffordshire, died in hospital on January 26 from multiple injuries, a day after he was allegedly kicked and stamped on near his home in Weston Road.
The 43-year-old, a production manager at a local steel company, was found lying unconscious in the street at about 8pm on January 25 after visiting a shop to buy a bottle of wine.
Friends and family, led by Mr Eccles' long term partner Yvonne and his elderly mother Joyce, packed Lichfield Cathedral to capacity.
The congregation numbered about 900, with many mourners standing through the 45-minute service.
In a moving family eulogy delivered by brother-in-law John Bayliss, Mr Eccles, known to friends and family as "Ecky" was described as "a larger than life character" with a generous nature and a positive approach to live.
Mr Bayliss said: "Whatever you had to ask him, the answer was always yes. If he could help you he would.
"If you needed something and he had it he would give it to you.
"No wasn't a word in his vocabulary."
