Grant Finnigan has previously served time for shooting a postman with an airgun and beating up a schoolboy.

The 26-year-old was on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court last week accused of attacking and robbing tragic Colin Simpson.

However, Finnigan was cleared of the attack after Sheriff Susan Sinclair ruled he had no case to answer.

Now Colin’s distraught mum fears whoever was responsible for the brutal attack on her late son will never face justice.

Isabelle Simpson has been left a “broken” woman since Colin passed away in August, days after he was beaten up and robbed.

Pictures given to the Barrhead News show Colin’s bruised and swollen face and body in the days after the vicious assault.

Speaking to the News this week, four months after her 27-year-old son’s death, she said: “I feel like there has been no justice done. I can’t move on from this. I am absolutely devastated.” Colin passed away in his mum’s Southpark Avenue home just four days after he was beaten up.

Rumours swirled around the town that Colin had committed suicide, and that grief-stricken Isabelle had found him hanging in the common close of her block of flats.

However Isabelle says that could not have been further from the truth and the post mortem showed he died due to complication with the medication he received after the assault.

Isabelle is now desperate to move house and possibly leave Barrhead for good.

During the trial the jury was told that Colin was found by police officers slumped in Barrhead’s Ralston Road covered in blood, with a “badly bashed up” face.

PCs Ross Clarke and Andrew Lambie answered the call just after 2am on August 2 when they found Colin with blood streaming from his nose and mouth.

Clarke explained: “There was blood coming from the side of his face, it was all the way down his t-shirt.

“His face was quite badly bashed up and his mouth was bleeding as well.” He told the officers he had been attacked by Finnigan, who lives in nearby Stormyland Way.

The officers checked Simpson but could not find any stab wounds, and could only see facial injuries.

Clarke said: “We waited for the paramedics to arrive to sort it out.

“We left the male to go with the ambulance, we were going to trace Grant Finnigan.” Clarke and Lambie headed for Finnigan’s home and, when they got to the block of flats he lives in, noticed that the door to the close was insecure.

A trail of blood ran from up the stairs outside the flats, through the close, and stopped at Finnigan’s door, where there were large pools of blood on the ground and on the welcome mat at his flat.

There was so much blood that Clarke called for back up, believing further violence must have taken place inside.

As he waited for colleagues to arrive he looked through the letter box.

Clarke explained: “Grant Finnigan was lying on the couch. He didn’t appear to be moving.

“Due to the amount of blood in the close we thought he might be injured.

“I thought it must be something more than just from Mr Simpson’s face.” The trail of blood ran from the front door all the way into the kitchen, where there were large pools of it on the floor and spatter marks across Finnigan’s cupboards.

A chain and a £20 were also found on the floor, while a £20 note was found in Finnigan’s pockets.

Finnigan’s clothing was seized as Simpson’s blood was on his top, trousers and shoes, and he was arrested and charged.

Prosecutors claimed he rained punches and kicks on Simpson’s head and body, repeatedly kicked him on the body, threatened him with further violence and robbed him of his wallet and £40 in cash.

Finnigan denied the assault and robbery and walked free from court this week after Sheriff Susan Sinclair ruled he had no case to answer.

Isabelle added: “My whole life has been turned upside down. I need to move home because I just don’t feel like I can face living here any more.

“I’ve lost a lot of weight and I’m on tablets to help me sleep and anti-depressants.

“I had just hoped there would be some kind of justice but there’s nothing.” Recalling the traumatic days leading up to Colin’s death, she told the Barrhead News how Colin had been enjoying a night out in Glasgow.

He was on the train home when he decided to meet up with some friends.

Hours later he returned home a bloodied and battered mess, and five days later he was dead.

She said: “He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong people.

“He was taken in by them when all he wanted was some company for the night.

“I keep replaying something he said to me over and over again, he said ‘I just had to stand there and take it, mum,’ and it breaks my heart.” She added: “I know my son was subjected to a horrible assault. I want to see justice done.”