A MAN was seriously injured after being assaulted in Bolton town centre.

Paul Gahan, aged 46 from Darcy Lever was left in a coma after being punched as he stood at the junction of Bradshawgate and Breightmet Street at 2am on Sunday morning.

Two offenders were seen approaching Mr Gahan who was then hit and fell backwards hitting his head on the pavement.

Eyewitnesses have described hearing a 'horrible noise' as the victim's head hit the ground and said there was 'a lot of blood' at the scene.  Mr Gahan was initially described as being in a critical condition and in a coma in hospital.

His family have now confirmed that he is out of the coma, but is still said to be in a lot of pain and has no recollection of the incident.

Mr Gahan's niece, Hayley Davies, urged anyone with information on the attack to come forward and thanked a group of people who stayed with her injured uncle while the ambulance was on its way to him.

She said: "My uncle is out of his coma but he is in a lot of pain. We still don't know the full details on what actually happened and Paul does not remember.

"Our family want to urge anybody that witnessed the attack happen to come forward.  "Even the smallest piece of information could help the police and we thank the people that stayed with him last night until the ambulance arrived."

One woman who was part of the group that helped Mr Gahan, said she saw him immediately after he had been hit as she waited for a taxi in Bradshawgate.

She said: "She said: "We were waiting at the taxi rank on the other side of the road when I looked over and saw the man fall down.

"He went down like a tree and hit his head really hard, the noise was horrible and then he just lay there.

"I think it must have just been one punch that did it and I did see some men walking away from the scene.

"We went over to see if we could help and there was an off-duty police officer there and the guys from the taxi rank were great and called an ambulance.

She added: "There was a lot of blood and the man was going in and out of consciousness, so we waited with him until the ambulance arrived.

"It was a horrible thing to see and I really hope he is alright."

A local takeaway owner, who didn't want to be named, was also present in the area at the time.

He said: "It was insane, there was lots of police and ambulances, I could see the man on the floor and it looked like he had dropped some food and bags after he was attacked.

"I spoke to someone who said they saw someone run across the road and hit him, he said everyone could hear the noise of his head hitting the ground."

Police are urgently appealing for information and trawling through CCTV of the area in a bid to catch the offenders.

Detective Sergeant Iqbal Ahmed said: "We are going through CCTV from the night and there were lots of people around at the time of the incident.

"This man is very poorly in hospital so I would ask if anyone saw what happened or knows anyone who may have been involved to call police urgently."

Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 1372 (between 7am and 11pm), 101, or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.