A 41-year-old pub landlord who was left for dead after a savage gang beating has spoken for the first time about his ordeal.

Dennis Clark suffered a fractured skull, broken nose and cheekbone when he was kicked unconscious in Castle Street, Canterbury. He has been left with a stammer, unable to write and cannot remember large sections of his vocabulary.

He now needs weekly speech therapy sessions and reading exercises. Doctors predict he will make only an 80 to 90 per cent recovery over the next year.

Police are still appealing for information about three suspects. No one has yet been arrested.

Mr Clark, who runs the Three Tuns in St Margaret's Street with wife Helen, 30, was attacked on May 24 after going outside to investigate a window being broken at 2.30am.

He was unconscious for 35 minutes afterwards, but says he wasn't fully aware of what was happening around him until a few days later.

Mr Clark was treated at Kent and Canterbury Hospital for 11 days. He said: "I remember being violently sick a lot and being in terrible pain, like someone was stabbing me in the head," he said of the first days of treatment.

"I'm still on painkillers and my balance has been affected. I sometimes stumble as though I'm going to fall down. Whenever I put my head down, it's spinning.

"I don't know how I feel because I can't find the words in my mind. I've never been unable to do something I want to, and that makes me very frustrated. It has put strain on me and Helen. Sometimes I just have to get out because I feel like I'm going to go mad."

Mr Clark can't look after his five-year-old-son William and will not be able to return to work for at least a year. Mrs Clark said: "It's put a big strain on our family. I'm running the business as well as looking after both of them."

Anyone with information which could lead police to the culprits is asked to call 01227 762055.