RELATIVES of a man killed while out celebrating his teenage daughter's pregnancy spoke today of the tragic waste of his life - as his attacker was starting a life sentence.

Stephen Dewhurst, 49, was walking home from a drinking session to celebrate the news he was to be a grandfather when he was attacked by Ansar Haq near his home in Ripon Street, Audley, Blackburn, on August 24 last year.

After an altercation between the two, Haq, 22, punched Mr Dewhurst once on the jaw causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement.

He was knocked unconscious and died four months later, still in a coma, in Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

Yesterday Haq was jailed for life after admitting manslaughter.

Mr Dewhurst's eldest daughter, Angela, 26, who lives in Blackburn, said: "The courts have done us justice but they can never bring back what this man has taken away. My dad didn't deserve this because he wasn't a violent man.

"The four months before he died were absolutely horrendous. Although he was moving he wasn't alive and it was a release when he died."

Second daughter Natalie, 17, gave birth to twins, Katy and Stephanie, who she named after Stephen, five weeks after the attack.

She said: "He knew about the children and was over the moon about it, but he never got to see them because he was taken away from us." Stephen's mum Mary, 69, of Lower Darwen, added: "No verdict can ever be satisfactory to us but we are glad it's over.

"It's a life wasted and something that need never have happened. Stephen was a very kind person who would never bear malice towards anyone. He didn't deserve what he got, the whole thing is very tragic."

Haq, of Portland Street, Accrington, was yesterday jailed for life at Preston Crown Court under Government legislation which gives courts the power to impose a life sentence for criminals convicted of three crimes of violence.

The assault which killed Mr Dewhurst happened just two months after Haq was released early from a three and a half year sentence for a serious assault on a man in Accrington which left the victim brain damaged.

He had also served an earlier nine month sentence for the robbery of a college student.

Judge Peter Openshaw stressed the attack wasn't racially motivated but said that Haq posed a serious risk to the public and had a bad record for violence.

He said the courts had a duty to protect the public from violent attacks such as the one on Mr Dewhurst.

Superintendent Mick Turner, who headed the inquiry, said: "The Government enacted the automatic life sentence to protect the public.

"Ansar Haq committed this violent act only two months after being released from a sentence for a similar offence.

"I can only hope that those who commit acts of violence take note of the possible consequences to their victims and to themselves."