A HAMMER attack in Wealdstone that left the victim with a fractured skull was featured on BBC's Crimewatch last night.
Detectives released CCTV footage in a bid to catch the attacker, who struck Liam McDonagh, 18, of Long Elmes, Harrow, in the middle of High Street Wealdstone, knocking him unconscious and splitting his head open.
The McDonagh family had been in The Shanakee pub to celebrate Liam's mother Paula McDonagh's 50th bithday on February 16 and Liam was walking home with relatives, including his younger brother, when the attacker swung at him with the weapon at 1.15am.
Liam, who used to attend Watford FC’s Centre of Excellence and last season played in Uxbridge FC’s youth team, needed surgery lasting six hours to repair the skull damage and he is now out of hospital.
The CCTV footage shown on Crimewatch shows the baseball cap-wearing attacker standing by the fruit machine in The Shanakee at the same time as the McDonagh party, with whom he had a dispute.
The man later leaves the pub, walks out of the sight of the various town centre cameras but is seen to return to confront the McDonaghs, pulling out the hammer hidden his waistband, and hitting Liam.
Liam is an A-level student at Whitmore High School in Porlock Avenue, West Harrow.
* Anyone with information should call the Metropolitan Police's incident room on 0208 721 3179.
