A DRUNKEN man who attacked a fellow drinker in his flat with an axe and then three weeks later tried to set his house on fire has been jailed for four years.

Leslie Holt hit John Patrick Garry with an axe when he was sat on the settee and again when he was lying on the floor.

The unprovoked attack left Garry needing 11 stitches with severe bruising and abrasions to his face and the back of his neck.

Holt, aged 42, of Withins Lane, Breightmet, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentence yesterday and was jailed for a total of four years for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and arson.

Prosecutor Hiran Narayan said that Garry had been drinking in Holt's flat with Holt and another man. They were all very drunk.

The other man went to the toilet and Garry sat on the settee to watch TV.

Without warning he felt a sudden pain in the back of his head.

He was then grabbed from behind and thrown to the floor and hit on the side of the face with the axe again. Holt then left the flat.

Garry was treated at hospital for cuts to his head which needed stitches. He also suffered severe bruising and abrasions.

When he was arrested Holt told police Garry was very drunk and had fallen in his flat and banged his head. He denied hitting him with the axe.

Three weeks later just after midnight on February 20 Garry was in his own flat along with his mother when they both smelled burning.

In the hallway they found burning paper had been pushed through the letterbox. They looked out of the door and saw Holt disappearing into a flat.

Holt told police he had drunk 15 pints and that night he had been burgled and blamed Garry for the break-in.

Mark Smith, defending, said that many of Holt's problems stemmed from his excessive use of alcohol.

He said he had taken a piece of paper and pushed it through the letter-box because he thought Garry had burgled his flat.

Jailing Holt for two years on each charge to run consecutively Judge William Morris said the axe attack must have been terrifying and that the lighted paper could have threatened the rest of the flats in the block where Garry lived.