A RETIRED fire officer has urged the public to help police catch an intruder who brutally attacked him in his own home.

The victim, aged 66, suffered a broken hand, two black eyes and cuts and bruises across his legs and back in the vicious assault in a quiet residential street in Kearsley.

The father-of-two and grandad-of-four, who does not wish to be named, bravely fought back by hitting the man with an iron bar.

Police have issued an appeal for the public's help to trace Marcus Cameron, who is wanted in connection with the incident.

The victim said: "He needs to be caught before he does some real harm or if he attacks someone who frail who cannot fight back, " said the victim who reached the senior rank of Station Officer in the fire service

"I just thought it was my son who had come home early and I asked what he was doing home.

"It was pitch dark in the dining room and when I went through I saw this man who was wearing a hoodie, I told him he was in the wrong house and gently pushed him towards the back door.

"But he grabbed my tracksuit and pulled it over my head so I couldn't see him and he started attacking me, I couldn't see a thing — I must have blacked out for a few seconds but when I came round something clicked I remembered there was a metal bar behind the kitchen door, which I use as a lever to open the door when it sticks. I grabbed it and I managed to clobber him.

"I couldn't see where I hit him but he came back afterwards and kicked the back gate in.

"I was calm and phoned the police."

The attack took place just before 9pm on New Year's Eve when the man spotted a shadow in the dinning room which is divided by French doors from the living room.

The fire officer was taken to hospital before being released at 2am on New Year's Day and he has been told he will make a full recovery.

He said: "I'm fine and I just hope this man is caught. This man came through the back door, which I hadn't locked, and I would just say lock your doors, I go round checking.

"He had gone through the drawers and I found later he had taken my thermal glove and a torch."

Cameron, aged 25, is also wanted in connection with an assault in Tonge Moor on March 11, in which a man smashed the window of a house and seriously assaulted a woman inside.

Police say Cameron has links to the Manchester and Huddersfield areas. They have warned members of the public against approaching him.

DCI Rick Jackson, head of Bolton CID said: "These crimes are of a very serious nature and extreme violence was used against the female victims, some of whom are elderly.

"If you see Cameron, do not approach him, but contact police immediately. Should anybody be found to be assisting or harbouring this wanted man, they too will face being arrested and a criminal conviction and a possible prison sentence of their own."

If anybody has any information about his whereabouts then contact Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.