THE family of York pensioner Edwin Hopper is preparing to spend Christmas Day in hospital with him as he slowly recovers from his injuries.

Mr Hopper, 71, who suffered severe head and facial injuries in an attack at his Acomb home on November 12, has got over the worst, according to his daughter Denise Kelly, but he still faces months of rehabilitation.

Mrs Kelly said her father picked up an infection while being treated in York District Hospital which had set back his recovery, but she said he was slowly getting better.

She said: "There's not really much change. He's still in hospital and he'll be in there for quite a while because they have got to rehabilitate him.

"We don't think he's really come to terms with what's happened to him and we don't want to push him or mention it unless he does."

Mrs Kelly, her sisters, Lynn Audin, June Jones and Wendy Pearson and her brother, Peter Hopper, were devastated when their father was taken to hospital.

Mr Hopper suffered multiple fractures to his face, including injuries to his jaw, eye and palate, which left him in intensive care for a week.

Updated: 10:22 Monday, December 24, 2001