A 24-YEAR-OLD who attacked and sexually assaulted a teenager in an alleyway has had his testicles removed after he was diagnosed with cancer while in custody.

Paul John Catterall, of Quebec Street, Deane, will now serve a lengthy prison sentence and is facing life without his reproductive organs.

Catterall approached his 18-year-old victim outside En Vogue nightclub before walking with her across the town centre towards the STB taxi office in Gleave Street, Bolton Crown Court heard.

As they walked into an alley, Catterall leaned in to kiss the woman, but she rejected him and walked away.

The court heard Catterall, who that night had taken cocaine as well as drinking alcohol, then pulled the 18-year-old back by her hair, ripping out some of her hair extensions.

As she toppled to the ground he pinned her down, removed her clothes and sexually assaulted her before chasing her as she ran, naked and screaming, from the scene, in an alley off All Saints Street, behind the Founders Arms pub.

Catterall, who has now been diagnosed with cancer and had surgery to remove his testicles, was yesterday jailed for seven years and eight months for the attack, which happened at 4am on July 31 last year.

Iain Simpkin, prosecuting, said the victim no longer has any friends because she does not go out, and after the attack had stopped eating and drinking, resulting in a hospital stay.

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Reading from the woman’s victim impact statement, he added: “Initially when I arrived home, I stayed in the bath and constantly scrubbed my body because I felt dirty.

"I scrubbed so hard I made myself bleed.

“This person has completely destroyed my life. I feel like a prisoner in my own home.”

Catterall pleaded guilty to assault by penetration at a hearing in November, with counts of attempted rape and sexual assault without penetration ordered to lie on file.

The court heard when he initially pleaded guilty he claimed he had shared a mutual kiss with the woman before the attack, but later admitted this was false.

It was revealed that Catterall had a previous conviction for a sexual assault in 2009, in which he had put his hand up a woman’s skirt after pushing her against a shop shutter near Bolton bus station.

Nicola Gatto, defending, said the drug and alcohol addict, who had a history of begging, was depressed after problems in his two-and-a-half year relationship with his girlfriend.

She added: “He desisted because he came to his senses. There is victim empathy. There is remorse, and there is shame.”

Judge Timothy Stead granted a one third reduction for Catterall’s early plea, making the custodial term four years eight months, but also extended this sentence by three years.

He said: “It was quite clear that your victim was significantly and obviously intoxicated.

“There is no sense in which she should be held to blame or blame herself for what happened, because the wrongdoing was entirely yours.

“The fact she was an obviously intoxicated young woman by herself at night in a isolated place are the aggravating factors of your case.”

After the case, the woman’s family, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said they did not think the sentence was long enough.

One relative added: “I hope he rots. He should have been hung for what he did.”