Parents of footballer left in coma after being punched in Australia have released new footage

The parents of a footballer left in a coma after being punched in Australia have released new footage of him ahead of his attacker's appearance in court this week.

Bed-ridden Danny Hodgson can be seen hooked up to hospital machines while gripping onto a stress ball in the video, as his family gently tap him on his arm and legs.

The 26-year-old suffered a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage following a single punch blow at Perth train station on September 5, last year.

Doctors then put the ex-Carlisle United youth player, from Cleaton Moor in Cumbria, in a medically induced coma as they struggled to treat bleeds on his brain and blood clots.

His parents Nicola and Peter flew out to be at his bedside during the intervening months and asked the public to “pray” and send “positive thoughts” for his recovery.

And over six months later, the new footage confirms that he is making steady progress following the horrific, unprovoked assault.

Nicola had earlier praised doctors treating her son at Royal Perth Hospital, before he moved into the next stage of his rehabilitation.

She said: "Despite his significant injuries, Danny spent every minute of those 82 days in Royal Perth fighting.

"He never gave up and the ICU doctors nicknamed him 'Ironman'.

"We are eternally grateful for the medical staff in ICU and the Trauma Unit who helped save Danny.”

In January, surgeons had also undertaken an especially risky operation to reattach a part of his skull, which had been removed last year to relieve pressure on his brain.

But the mum had later confirmed, to her great relief, that this had been a success.