A THUG who assaulted two men outside a takeaway in Horwich has appeared in court.

At Bolton Crown Court, Matthew McCaigue, 36, admitted charges of affray and causing actual bodily harm following the incident which took place almost two years ago.

William Donnelly, prosecuting, said McCaigue was one of a group of men enjoying a night out in the town centre on December 28, 2018, when they came into contact with another group.

Mr Donnelly said: "Just after midnight the two parties passed each other on the street and the victims felt a certain unease about the way McCaigue and his colleagues were looking at them, but apart from a brief exchange of words nothing happened."

A short time later the victims were outside a takeaway when they noticed McCaigue and his friends walking in their direction.

"As they were waiting outside, McCaigue, without further preamble, headbutted one of the men to his forehead causing a wound which later required the insertion of five stitches at Royal Bolton Hospital," said Mr Donnelly.

The attack continued and another man was punched to the ground and kicked unconscious resulting in injuries which required hospital treatment where cuts to his head were glued.

Mr Donnelly said one of the victims was home in the UK for Christmas as he usually worked abroad.

In a victim impact statement he said he was glad to be going back abroad as he had been worrying about what might have happened to him when he was being kicked on the floor.

The other victim described the incident as "a senseless, unprovoked attack" which had left him with a permanent scar.

McCaigue had escaped the scene before emergency services arrived and was not arrested until May 2019.

Mr Donnelly added that McCaigue, of Stansfield Close, Barrowford, Burnley, had nine previous convictions for 17 offences.

Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh, said: "Unprovoked violence of this sort passes the custodial threshold by a significant degree."

Despite this, Judge Walsh noted the "inexplicable delay" in bringing the case to court and noted that during the two years since McCaigue had kept out of trouble.

He handed McCaigue a 12 month sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered him to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.