A MAN was spared jail after hitting his victim with a pan and leaving him with a serious head injury.

Stewart Axford admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

He pleaded guilty on a basis of plea that outlined how he was attacked in the street before fleeing to his girlfriend's house where he became involved in a scuffle where he was stabbed with a finger and he swung the frying pan at the head of his assailant, causing the injury.

On September 29 last year Axford was in Anchor Lane Farnworth when he was attacked by the three men and a fight broke out.

He ended up on the floor where he was "repeatedly kicked" by his attackers.

Axford managed to escape to his girlfriend's house nearby and the three men followed him.

A scuffle broke out in the kitchen involving him and one of the men, who had grabbed a knife.

Axford tried to escape and picked up the pan and swung it in the darkness, hitting his attacker in the head and leaving a large gash.

He suffered a knife wound to his finger during the struggle on the kitchen floor.

The court heard how in 2016 Axford had been the victim of a kidnapping and the three men who attacked him are believed to be linked to the defendant in that case.

Axford had originally been charged with the more serious section 18 GBH but the crown later accepted a guilty plea to section 20 wounding on the basis of plea.

Colin Buckle, defending Axford, described it as an "unusual case".

Judge Richard Gioserano, said that because of the circumstances surrounding the assault, he did not believe it crossed the custody threshold.

He said: "Your basis to the plea was a basis that the prosecution in effect accepted.

"I have not been told why the prosecution decided to do that. I must assume it is because the prosecution have concerns for their witnesses.

"The prosecution case was very different to your basis of plea. The prosecution case at the outset was that you were the aggressor during the road rage incident and that you were the aggressor for the incident where you assaulted a man with a pan."

Axford, aged 28 and of Oak Avenue, Little Lever, was given a community order for 12 months and must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.