AN assault victim has told of his terror after being beaten to a pulp in his bed by a Horwich thug he had been out drinking with.

Thomas Boyle was out in Wigan on November 13 last year and started drinking with Adam Foster, who he knew from previous social occasions.

As pubs closed, Mr Boyle, aged 57, suggested that Foster come back to his nearby home in Baker Street so they could carry on drinking.

After a few hours, Mr Boyle went to bed and left Foster asleep on a sofa downstairs, with the front door unlocked so he could leave when he woke.

But to his horror, Mr Boyle then woke to Foster punching him in the face and he was knocked unconscious.

He woke later with blood on his face, with heavy bruising, damaged dentures but no broken bones, and also found his mobile phone had been stolen.

Mr Boyle said: "This guy just beat me up in my own house and in my bed. It was horrific.

"I have had two operations on my top lip and was beaten to a pulp. The neighbours eventually called the police and the ambulance.

"We had both had a fair bit to drink but there was no indication that he would do anything like this. My face was smashed in by the end.

"I let my guard down I suppose but I did not deserve that."

Foster, who had fled the house by the time Mr Boyle came to, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and theft and was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Mr Boyle was critical of the sentence.

He added: "I have still got pain now and he has got away with it essentially. It doesn't seem right. He should have got prison for it. It is lenient, in my opinion.

"I want this to be highlighted. I have been going back and forth from the dentists every week and my sentence is carrying on really."

Foster, aged 26, of Lee Lane, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court in June this year.