A DRINKER smashed his brother in the face with a bottle as he tried to help him to bed, a court heard.

Alan Swanton needed stitches to a gash on his face after Stephen Swanton assaulted him, Nicholas Flanagan, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court.

The incident began when Alan Swanton was getting ready to go to his work Christmas party on December 20 last year.

Mr Flanagan said Stephen Swanton was sitting on the sofa, giggling with a drink in each hand.

He was so drunk he had wet himself, said Mr Flanagan, adding that the brother was embarrassed because a colleague was also at the house.

Mr Swanton tried to escort his brother up the stairs.

Mr Flanagan said: “Without warning the defendant raised a glass bottle and slammed it down on Alan’s forehead and nose.

The bottle did not break, but left a one and a half inch cut, which required five stitches in hospital.

Swanton left the house covered in blood after trying to make up with his brother by offering him a drink.

When police later found him in Tonge Moor Road, he had a knife with a three inch serrated blade in his coat pocket.

Swanton, aged 31, of Davenport Street, Halliwell, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and possessing a knife in public.

Kimberley Morton, defending, said Swanton, who has no previous convictions, had a drink problem and had lost his job as a result of the assault.

Recorder Abigail Hudson sentenced Swanton to a 12 month community order with 12 months supervision He was also ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and pay £150 compensation plus an £80 victim surcharge.