The man accused of attempting to murder Keighley teacher Adam Pickles by hitting him with an iron bar in Thailand is due back in court as the long-awaited case comes to an end.

Sean Henry Tinsley, of Wolverhampton, is accused of attacking married father-of-one Mr Pickles in Pattaya in May 2012 and the final stage of the hearing is due to take place next Tuesday.

Mr Pickles, a former Bradford Grammar School pupil, was put into a 17-month coma, but is making promising progress as he continues to slowly recover at a respite care centre near York, said his father Andrew.

“We are coming to the crunch – Tinsley has been at court and the final day of evidence is on Tuesday, June 10,’’ Mr Pickles said.

“The Thai system means that the judges then go away and consider their verdict, which should be given by the end of the month.

“Hopefully we will get the result we want and then that will be an end to the chapter,” said Mr Pickles.

A risk that recent political unrest in Thailand could upset proceedings has luckily not materialised, he said.

“Any trouble in Thailand seems to have been contained in Bangkok and so everything has gone ahead as planned.

“It’s just good it’s going to be coming to an end after such a long wait.

“We have endured two years of immense pressure and hopefully we will soon be able to tell Adam that it’s all over,” Mr Pickles.

He and his wife make daily trips from their Leeds home to visit their son in York where there are now signs of gradual improvement after a routine operation led to a serious infection.

“That was a scary time when he was in and out of hospital and intensive care a lot, but now Adam is back on track,” Mr Pickles said.

“He is showing real signs of improvement and in response to request he will hold my finger, give a “thumbs-up” and he can even pick up and throw particular objects when asked to do so.”

“And speech and language experts are to give him a “swallow test” to see whether he could be moved onto liquids and solids.

“There is still a very long way to go, but he is progressing and compared to the bad times, it does give us hope,” Mr Pickles said.