A GRIEVING mother is hoping the new year will find her a kind-hearted sponsor to help further her fight for justice.

Sandra Jones's call comes only days after the second anniversary of the death of her son Colin, who was felled by a single punch on New Year's Day in 2002, a blow that killed the unemployed gardener and ruined the lives of his family.

The man who caused the 34-year-old's death, taxi driver Mazhar Ali, was given a two-year suspended jail sentence after he was convicted of manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court in November 2002.

Attorney General Lord Goldsmith backed the family's campaign to have the sentence overturned and replaced with a tougher punishment. An appeal court last year, however, ruled it should not to interfere with the trial court decision.

Mrs Jones, of Stockton, said: "You just cannot imagine what it has been like. The family did not want to put a tree or cards up, or do anything for the New Year.''

Mrs Jones, her two daughters and Mr Arnold's wife and in-laws marked the anniversary by placing four wreaths on his grave.

Mrs Jones wants to appeal to the House of Lords or the European Court of Human Rights, but has not got the money to pay for legal advice.

She said: "I want to do so much, but until I get some money, I can do nothing. It all comes down to money. I feel as though I am in a blind alley and I cannot get out."

A witness at the trial said Ali was angry when he turned up at a house in Stockton in the early hours of New Year's Day, 2002, to find no fare waiting for him and punched Mr Arnold as he emerged from a house, using his full weight.

Ali, of Forestgate, London, but formerly of Park Road, Stockton, said Mr Arnold had racially insulted him, and moved towards him in a confrontational manner.

Mrs Jones and Mr Arnold's widow, Vicky, said chronic back pain would have made it impossible for him to have been confrontational.