A YOUNG father was left for dead by an attacker who stabbed him in the back of his head as he walked home from a night out.

Richard Ratcliffe was lucky to escape with his life when the knife blade narrowly missed his brain and left him with a three-inch deep wound.

The 25-year-old was left unconscious on the ground for up to two hours before he staggered several hundred yards to raise the alarm.

The attacker had rifled through his pockets as he lay helpless on the ground and stole his wallet, watch and mobile phone.

And today recovering at home after emergency surgery in hospital Mr Ratcliffe confessed: "The thief left me for dead. I would have handed over my wallet and my phone. It was not worth dying for."

Mr Ratcliffe underwent a five hour operation at Salford's Hope Hospital and needed 34 stitches in the wound. Detectives say they are shocked at the ferocity of the attack.

It is the second devastating blow for Mr Ratcliffe, his partner Kathryn Dugdale and their three-year-old son Stephen.

In June, their £60,000 dream house in Tonge Moor collapsed as builders contracted to Bolton Council were carrying out repair work to an outside wall after the next-door property had been demolished.

They are currently living in temporary accommodation.

Mr Ratcliffe, aged 25, was on his way home following a night out in Bolton town centre on Saturday, September 25, and had called into a taxi office in Higher Bridge Street.

Rather than wait more than an hour for a cab, he set off walking towards his home in Tonge Fold.

As he walked along Waters Meeting Road near to Total Fitness at around midnight, he suddenly felt a sharp blow to the back of the head.

Mr Ratcliffe was knocked unconsciousness and woke up more than an hour later, in a pool of his own blood.

It took him around 45 minutes to stagger to the car park at Motorworld at the junction of Blackburn Road and Halliwell Road where he fell unconscious again. Fortunately a passerby spotted him and took him to the New Hall Inn, in Halliwell Road, where an ambulance was called.

Mr Ratcliffe said: "He didn't need to stab me. If he had shown me a knife, I would have handed everything over. This was a very sick person. "I am always wary about walking alone at night and kept looking behind. The next thing I know I woke up on the ground.

"I could see that I was surrounded by blood but I couldn't feel a thing. I touched the back of my head and the wound was so deep I could put my fingers inside it." "I realised my phone had gone and I had no way of calling for help. I couldn't stand up so I had to crawl to where someone might see me."

PC Greg Greenhalgh from the Bolton Robbery Unit said: "This was a vicious and unprovoked attack.

"Mr Ratcliffe could easily have died as a result of his injuries. He lost a great deal of blood and was lucky that he was able to get help."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Robbery Unit on 0161 856 5645 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.