A MAN who left a promising young chef unable to walk or talk could now be charged with manslaughter after his victim died yesterday.

Michael Rogers, 31, was left with devastating injuries after he was punched twice in an unprovoked atttack at the Red Lion in Kidlington in June 2010.

His life support machine was turned off on Thursday – 14 months after the attack – and he died yesterday.

His attacker Logan Usher, then 21, was jailed for two-and-a-half-years for the attack in May after admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

Now the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are re-examining the charges to see if he could be tried for more serious offences.

Mr Rogers’ mum Patricia McFarlane last night paid a heartfelt tribute to her son. “Michael really struggled for 14 months to stay with us,” she said “He had so many setbacks and fought every time to cling on to life and he came back from all those setbacks and I’m really proud of him and the things he achieved.

“We are going to miss him. I wouldn’t be burying him if it wasn’t for Logan Usher.”

A former drug addict, Mr Rogers had come to Oxfordshire to get clean at the Ley Community in Yarnton and ended up an ambassador for the centre before going to work at the News Cafe in the centre of Oxford.

Remembering her son’s mannerisms, Miss McFarlane said: “He was such a happy person.

“The thing I most remember is ever since he was a little child he would rub his hands together really fast and grin when he was excited about something – his enthusiasm and his excitement was infectious.

“His friends said he was the kind of person that you just took to straight away.”

She added: “Me and Michael were very, very close and that’s one of the saddest things about everything that has happened.

“If you lose someone you are that close to, it just leaves such a big hole in your life, even through everything he’s been through in the past 14 months.”

Despite his terrible injuries, her son – who spent much of the 14 months at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford – had made signs of a partial recovery. She said: “He got to the stage where he could understand you and nod and would even try to hug before you left.”

Telling of her pain as she brought her son home to Nottingham to die, she said: “We were told three weeks ago that they wanted to turn the ventilator off because he was brain stem dead, but I didn’t want to let him die in Oxford, I wanted to get him back to Nottingham.

“The hospital brought him to the house and turned the ventilator off. He carried on breathing for nine hours. It shows how hard he fought.”

Mr Rogers was pronounced dead by doctors at midnight yesterday.

Miss McFarlane said: “It has been horrendous, just the fight he had to put up to stay with us and to see him go through everything he’s had to fight — all for one person who thinks they can go punching people.”

Keen Nottingham Forest fan Mr Rogers was yesterday praised by colleagues. Steve Walker, programme director at Ley Community, said: “He came back from his problems to become a pillar of society. He got through a lot of heartache and pain to get back to his normal self. His death is a big loss for us, his family and everyone who knew Michael.”

Amateur kickboxer Usher, formerly of Croxford Gardens, Kidlington, initially told police he had not thrown any punches.