A small disabled retired person, who received £ 330k of donations by good Samaritans after a vicious robbery is stunned by the nation, has spent the majority of his money by moving the house six times in 10 years.
The attack on 4ft 6ins, Six Stone, Alan Barnes, 77, by drug dealer Richard Gatiss, the public left so shocked that a profession to raise money fluctuated.
Barnes told MailOnline that he no longer had contact with 'Angel of the North' Katie Cutler, the then 21-year-old beautician who started the attraction that he forgives Gatiss for the attack.
In the 10 years since the robberies that left him with a broken collarbone, Mr. Barnes spent the money raised on new houses to take him away from the Sheriff Hill area of Gateshead, Tyneside, where the attack took place.
However, he has now returned to the nearby suburb of Low Fell, where he happily lives in a small terrace.
Mr. Barnes refused to allow the robberies to rob him of his independence and he is still going out to do his own shopping, even though he is blindly registered.
He also goes to church and has even written a song, The Rhyme, that he would like to release 'to earn some money himself'.
When asked if he could forgive Richard Gatiss, Mr. Barnes told MailOnline: 'I think I did that, yes. What he did was terrible and if it had been a worse injury, he caused me it might have been different.
Alan, depicted this month, in his modest house, which is thinly furnished to give him fewer obstacles to negotiate while he goes around
Mr Barnes depicted with Katie Cutler, the beautician who led a campaign to help him picked up £ 330,000 – but they no longer speak
'I heard afterwards that what Gatiss did to me, maybe a case of a wrong identity, that someone else might have been the target, but I don't know.
'Terrible things happen in the world, just look at those three little girls who were murdered in Southport in the summer, so you have to put things in context.
'I could continue with my life and I am happy, I did not leave what happened to me 10 years ago, I stopped doing something.
'I like to go outside and walk to the cooperative and stop talking to people on the way and I still go to church, which is important to me.
'If you are a Christian, you have to be happy in life, that's the way I see it. If you fully understand the Holy Spirit, you can never be depressed. '
Mr Barnes made the money raised to buy his own house for the first time in his life and in the next six years he had five addresses before he settled on his current one.
He initially bought a smart terrace with two beds for £ 150,000.
However, he was unable to settle in his new house and has since moved several times, including a spacious new building with a view of Victorian Saltwell Park in Gateshead, which he bought for £ 250,000 in 2017.
He sold that house for £ 205,000 in July 2020, loss of £ 45,000, and now lives in a smaller house in the area, after he has never left the low suburb.
Barnes still has a part of his £ 330,000 in fortune, but insisted that he 'does not need much to be happy'
“I am happy here, it's the best place I have had and I think the people who live here are really warm and friendly.”
Alan Barnes has spent a large part of his fortune on houses, after he has moved six times since the 2015 attack
Now his modest house has been thinly furnished to give him fewer obstacles to negotiate while he goes around.
He says: 'I had some very nice places, one of them was very big and looked over a park, but I found the road a bit too busy outside.
'I am happy here, it is the best place I have had and I think the people who live here are really warm and friendly.
'I am still being recognized and people stop to say hello, but I am happy to say that for the most part the requests for selfies have stopped.
“After all the publicity, I couldn't go anywhere without anyone stopping and asked for a selfie. I didn't like it when it was a group of boys because they would always like to put their arms around me – I didn't mind when it was the girls.
'It's nice when people say hello. Just before Christmas I was at the metroCentre and a man stopped and called, “Look, it's Alan.” I liked that. '
Although he promises that he and Katie would be 'friends for life', Mr. Barnes says that they are no longer in contact.
Mr. Barnes says that his current house (photo) in Gateshead is the 'best place' he has lived
Displayed is the original rented real estate in which Alan Barnes lived before he was attacked
Mr Barnes outside the first house he bought with the donations – an Edwardian terrace -shaped house in Low Fell, Gateeshead in 2015
The second house that Mr Barnes bought was a semi-detached house with two bedrooms, which cost £ 115,000
He said: 'I don't hear from Katie now, but I hope she's fine. She started the profession that all that money has raised for me and I will always be grateful for the generosity that people have shown.
'I have some money left, but I don't need much. I have my home and I am not a materialistic person, I don't need much to be happy.
'I wrote a song with the name The Rhyme and I would like to release it to earn some money for myself.
'I sang it in the local methodist Church Hall and it went down very well, especially with the children. Each verplet has a story that is about something in my life. ”
Mr Barnes, who has complex disabilities as a result of his mother who earned German measles while he was pregnant with him, had moved his bins one evening in January 2015 when Gatiss pushed him to the ground and began to make his pockets for cash roads.
Eventually he left empty -handed after Mr Barnes called for help from his neighbors.
Gatiss was arrested for DNA found on his victim's coat and was sentenced to four years in prison for mistreatment with the intention of robbing.
Judge Paul Sloan, KC, said him, said: “Mr. Barnes was vulnerable, there is no doubt that you were chosen because of his vulnerability, it was a despicable violation in any image.” '
After the attack, the fundraising campaign from Katie Cutler received support from very large -Britain and the world.
The disabled pensioner bought this £ 244,950 real estate with two floors in November 2018, but said he would rather live in a bungalow at that time
The OAP told MailOnline that he is now 'happy' and did not let the 2015 attack stop him from life
For her share to help him, Katie Cutler, Van Gateeshead, Gateeshead, the 'Angel of the North' was branded by the public and received the British Empire Medal in the birthday of the Queen's Birthday's Honors.
But things soured in the aftermath for her.
She was left with an account of almost £ 7,000 by a PR company that she asked to help with fundraising and to set up a charity to keep helping people.
The charity did not get off the ground and Mrs. Cutler was threatened with judicial action. In 2016 she lost to PR consultant Claire Barber and was instructed to repay her £ 6,200.
Mrs. Cutler never promised to do charity work again.
When she was approached by MailOnline this week, she refused to comment.
