Heartbreaking moment dying dad meets his baby for first time before life support is turned off

This is the heartbreaking moment a new dad met his newborn daughter for the first time before his life support machine was turned off. George Fenlon, 23, died three months after being attacked on a night out in Blackpool.

His partner Beth Turner, 23, was heavily pregnant at the time of the attack and gave birth to their daughter - named Clara Georgia after her dad - just two weeks before he died. While he never regained consciousness, he was able to meet his daughter in hospital and George's heartbroken mum Melissa captured the touching moment.

Melissa, 53, said: "Looking back now, I’m not sure how we all got through it, the range of emotions we had to go through was horrendous. Beth wanted Clara to meet George and have a little bit of time with him so she had a C-section and she had a couple of weeks in hospital with him where she saw him everyday.

“It was important that she did that because we’ve got memories, we’ve got pictures. The hospital did a lot, we’ve also got little prints of Clara’s and George’s hands together.”

Police were called at around 2am on 15 August last year to a report of an assault at The Strand in Blackpool. They found George, a bartender at Revolution Bar, had suffered serious head injuries.

He was rushed to Royal Preston Hospital and put on a life support machine but he never recovered and died in hospital on 22 November. An inquest opening heard George collapsed and lost consciousness after the attack. A post-mortem found his cause of death was complications of blunt head trauma.

Rhys Jones, 26, of Cannock, Staffordshire, has been charged with murder and will stand trial in June. Melissa said of the ordeal: “We were all in shock, we weren’t sure what was happening.

"It was one of his friends who phoned, he said something had happened but no one was sure what. Then we heard George had gone to Royal Preston Hospital and we didn’t know why but when we got more information, we found out he had a serious head injury so Preston was the best place for him.

“His girlfriend was six or seven months pregnant at that time so we were all just in shock and when we saw him it was pretty horrific.” Six months after his death, Melissa is now hoping to create a lasting legacy for her 'fun-loving' son.

She has organised a fundraising event in July called ‘The Fenlon Football Funday’ in Stanley Park in the resort, featuring a football tournament and kids entertainment. Melissa said of George: “He just wanted to make people laugh, he was a fun loving guy and very easy going, nothing really fazed him to be honest.

"Clara’s favourite TV show is Teletubbies and he was like a big teletubby I suppose, just daft and it’s sad that Clara will never experience that. So the fun day is for Clara and all of George’s friends, to keep his memory alive.

"George was just so popular that it’ll be nice for the youngsters of Blackpool not to be sad, but instead remember George through Clara. If it’s a success this year, I’m hoping it will be an annual event. It’s just what George was, he was a fun loving guy who loved his football, so it’s what George would have wanted - for everyone to have a nice day.”

Revolution Bar, where George worked, are continuing the celebrations in the evening and will be creating a cocktail in his name. All proceeds will go towards Elliot’s place, a local charity dedicated to supporting young men with their mental health and well being.

Melissa added: “George’s friends have been struggling with his loss so the charity just spoke to me, it made sense.”