Have made one effort to repair the ribbon cable, but not looking good. I can't get to the copper strips easily for soldering.
I have searched the Internet (eBay etc.) and it looks to me that the four wire ribbon could be for the touch screen part. If so, this would explain the loss of touch which I had previously. I would also 'guess' that the 2 connection ribbon may be power and the multi-strand connector is for the display.
I'm begining to think that even if I get the ribbon joined I will still have the softare/firmware problem I started with.
Slowly losing faith and confidence as it probably can't even be used for spares now?