'Hitchy is always with us' - the keeper who died after one-punch attack

"Even now, more than 18 months on, it has still not fully sunk in. I see little Freddie growing up and it hits me so hard."

Chris Hitchcock is talking about the loss of his son James, a goalkeeper for non-league Barton Town, who died after a single punch to the head in an unprovoked attack.

James, a popular team-mate known as 'Hitchy' to family and friends, was killed in December 2024, just before he was about to spend his first Christmas as a father following the birth of Freddie six months earlier.