A GOOD Samaritan was attacked by two drunken men after he escorted a pensioner home from the pub, a court was told.

Eric Gunning was beaten around the head and body with a wooden pole after the two men burst into the pensioner's home.

Robert Gray and his friend Gary Wilkinson had both earlier told a policeman that a man called Gareth Hughes had attacked them and they were going to get their revenge, Bolton Crown Court was told.

They attacked Mr Gunning because they had seen him with Hughes earlier that night.

Gray, aged 42, of Cowper Street, Leigh, and 35-year-old Wilkinson, also of Cowper Street, Leigh, admitted unlawfully wounding Mr Gunning at a house in Pallatine Square, Leigh, on June 14 this year.

Alaric Bassano, prosecuting, said Wilkinson and Gray told the police officer they were going to attack Hughes but the officer warned them not to take the law into their own hands.

Shortly after midnight they went to Edward Durrington's house in Pallatine Square where they believed Hughes would be.

They burst into the house without being asked and found Mr Gunning who had escorted the pensioner home from the pub.

They attacked him with the wooden pole they had taken with them and hit him several times on the head and punched him in the face.

Mr Gunning was treated at hospital for two wounds to the back of his head and cuts, abrasions and bruises on his head and body.

The court heard that Wilkinson and Gray had both been attacked by Hughes the previous week and had been left with black eyes.

Judge Martin Steiger sentenced the men to a two-year Community Rehabilitation Order with a proviso they attend the substance related offence group.

Wilkinson was ordered to pay his victim £1,500 compensation and Gray was ordered to pay £500. Both men were also ordered to pay £500 court costs each.