A DOORMAN has been left blind in one eye after he was struck in the face by a stone.
Police have today released photographs of 34-year-old Peter Sears' face and also a CCTV image of a man they want to trace in connection with the incident.
Mr Sears is the third door supervisor in Huddersfield to have lost the sight in one eye in attacks over the last two years. None of the incidents is connected.
Mr Sears was working as a door supervisor at The Blob Shop on Queensgate when he was badly hurt on June 24 - shortly before England kicked off their Euro 2004 championship quarter-final with host nation Portugal.
Mr Sears, a former chef whose hopes of setting up his own blacksmith business have been wrecked by his injury, said: "The eye has been left badly scarred and doctors have told me that's it. I've lost my central vision and my peripheral vision out of it is very poor."
The injury was so severe Mr Sears needed two operations at Calderdale Royal Hospital - one to reattach his retina and another to clear blood from underneath his retina.
He said: "I had just gone on duty when the management wanted me to ask a boisterous group of young men to leave."
Mr Sears and a colleague asked the group to leave and they started to head towards the door.
But one began to cause problems and had to be ushered outside.
Once outside, two men started to throw punches at Mr Sears and the next thing he knew was a terrible pain in his left eye.
"I saw something coming towards me out of the corner of my eye and ducked," he said.
"But it was too late. It nearly knocked me to the floor, but I managed to stay on my feet."
But he realised something was dreadfully wrong with his left eye.
"I felt my eye to see if it had burst," he said.
He was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where he was found to have the severe eye injury along with a broken nose and cuts.
He was immediately transferred to Calderdale Royal Hospital, which specialises in eye injuries.
Pc Dave McSweeney, of Huddersfield police, said: "Mr Sears suffered a terrible injury which has had a dramatic effect on his life.
"We would like people to look very closely at this image of the man we want to trace. Someone must know who he is."
In February 2003 a 33-year-old doorman lost an eye when he was hit by a brick thrown at the entrance to the Heaven And Hell nightclub on New Street in Huddersfield town centre.
In August 2002, Huddersfield door supervisor Ian Mellor had his right eye removed by surgeons after it was damaged in an attack.
He was wounded while dealing with a passenger on a bus from Huddersfield town centre to the Visage and Ethos nightclub complex at Folly Hall.
His attacker was jailed for two-and-a-half years after a jury at Bradford Crown Court convicted him of wounding with intent.
Anyone who knows the man police are trying to trace over the Blob Shop attack should contact Pc Nancy Walker on 01484 436659 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
