DETECTIVES have today launched a murder enquiry after a man died from injuries he suffered in an attack four months ago.

Nigel Price died last night at Southampton General Hospital. He had been seriously ill ever since he was viciously attacked on Southampton Common in November last year.

He suffered life threatening head injuries during the assault - thought to be a homophobic attack - and was found unconscious and covered in blood, lying face down in the bushes.

A dog walker raised the alarm and 58-year-old Mr Price was taken to Southampton General Hospital where he spent several weeks in a coma.

He began to show signs of recovery but remained in a coma-like state, unable to communicate with doctors or police.

Last month detectives renewed their appeal to find who attacked Mr Price after medics revealed they doubted he would ever recover.

Hours before the attack, which police believe happened on the evening of Friday November 13, Mr Price had been at The Cowherds pub and was seen leaving on CCTV cameras outside.

Major crime detectives have now taken over the investigation to find who killed Mr Price.

Detective Chief Inspector Ben Snuggs, leading the murder enquiry, said: ""Officers have been thoroughly investigating what happened to him ever since the attack but, due to the added seriousness of it now being a murder inquiry, I urge people to come forward and help us, even if they were reluctant to do so before.
· Were you on the Common that evening?
· Did you see Mr Price?
· Do you know Nigel Price and, if so, can you tell us what he was doing during the course of that evening?
· Did you see or hear an altercation, raised voices or anything which you would consider out of the ordinary? The smallest detail may help.
· Particularly I need to locate anyone who was in the Cemetery Road area who may have been involved in an argument with someone."

Police also need to trace two men who were seen at about 7.15am on Saturday 14 November running towards the reservoir on the eastern side of the Common.

Both men had white skin; one was in his early 30s, 6ft tall with a slight build but muscular. He had short, light coloured hair.

The shorter man was also in his early 30s, about 5ft 8ins tall with darker hair. Both men were wearing a lightweight dark coloured anorak over dark jeans.

DCI Snuggs added: "Friday, November 13, 2009 was a stormy, wet and windy night. Despite this, a large number of people typically use The Common as one of the city's main recreational areas, and will have been in and around the Cemetery Road/ Hill Lane on that Friday evening.

"If so we need to hear from them too as they could have vital information."