A LAW student has ended up in hospital with a fractured skull after being caught up in disorder outside a students’ union.
Matthew Copeland was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was caught up in a brawl and knocked unconscious. It could be weeks before the 22-year-old recovers and can return to his lectures.
Last night Matthew’s family made a heartfelt appeal for those involved in the fight to come forward.
Matthew’s father Gary, who lives at Wynyard, Teesside, with wife Maxine and their other sons Nick, 23, and Tom, 14, described Matthew as a “pacifist” who tries to avoid trouble.
“The actions of these people who go about and do things like this are a complete mystery to me,” said Gary, a corporate lawyer who also owns a business with offices in Teesside, Scotland and America.
“How can someone regard that as normal human conduct?
“The people who did this know who they are. I hope they read this and one of them is a decent human being and will stand up and say, ‘Yes, it was me’.”
Matthew had been on a night out with a group of friends, mainly girls, and had come out of the CCTV club at Newcastle University’s Students’ Union to go home to their shared house in Jesmond, Newcastle. Trouble apparently spilled out from inside the nightspot and Matthew found himself attacked.
“His friend who was with him said he suddenly fell forward,” said Gary, 53. “It appears he was hit on the side or back of the head. He hit his head on the concrete floor when he fell.
“Matthew doesn’t remember anything. He was unconscious for a minute or two but came round and his friends took him to hospital in a taxi.”
