A devastated mum told yesterday how her son was so badly injured in a hammer attack that she couldn't recognise him.

Stephen Farbridge, 26, needed surgery to remove two blood clots on his brain following the assault.

Surgeons operated for five hours to save the 26-year-old dad. And mum Carol Allman said: "When I saw his face I cried. Stephen's face was virtually flattened."

The extent of Mr Farbridge's head and facial injuries sparked rumours he had died and his distraught family have even received condolence calls.

He is being closely monitored in the high dependency unit of Newcastle General hospital.

Jobless Mr Farbridge, a devoted father to five-year-old Gabrielle, was in a critical condition over the weekend after he was attacked outside a flat in Fawdon, Newcastle, at 4.40am on Saturday.

"He was unrecognisable as our son," said Mrs Allman.

"He is close to his sister, Danielle, and she became hysterical when she

caught a glimpse of him being wheeled along a corridor before surgery."

* Raymond Graham, 25, of Cairns Way, Fawdon, was remanded in custody by Newcastle magistrates on Monday charged with wounding.