A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was savagely kicked and punched by bullies while being held captive for more than an hour.

Leah Crompton was repeatedly tortured by a girl gang of three teenagers -- as up to 10 other jeering teenagers watched.

And today, as police and education officers investigated the attack, the bruised and battered girl underwent a scan in hospital to establish the extent of her injuries.

Leah is believed to have been targeted by the gang of girl bullies for several months.

The attack happened when Leah was at a friend's home in Ainsworth Avenue, Horwich, as some of her tormentors gathered outside. She hid in a cupboard, scared of confronting the gang.

Leah's friends claimed they did not know where she was but the gang then barged into the house.

She was dragged from the cupboard and punched in the head and face.

Leah, who lives in Bolton, was then taken to garages off Lancaster Avenue and over the next hour was subjected to repeated attacks.

Terrified Leah was:

THUMPED in the face

STAMPED on the head

ORDERED by one of the girls, who are aged 15, 17 and 19, to kiss her feet.

Leah bent down to obey -- and was kicked in the face. Although some of the onlookers -- who were with her three attackers -- then pleaded with Leah's assailants to stop the beating, the attacks continued.

A nearby homeowner then intervened and took Leah into her home. Leah, who told her rescuer the girls had threatened to kill her, needed hospital treatment for a black eye, broken nose, swollen lip and head injuries.

Police and education officials are now investigating an allegation that one of her attackers had been targeting her for six months at school and on the streets.

Leah, a pupil of Rivington and Blackrod School, Horwich, was released from hospital at the weekend but was re-admitted last night when internal bleeding was discovered.

Today her father, Jess, aged 47, condemned the attack, claiming the bullying she had endured was due to a "yob culture" on the streets of Horwich.

He said: "There are a lot of gangs in Horwich and if you do not fit in you are targeted. I think that has happened to Leah."

Mr Crompton and his wife, Barbara, aged 46, had noticed a change in Leah's personality over the last few months but only suspected something was wrong when she played truant from school last week.

Today before going to his daughter's bedside at the Royal Bolton Hospital he said: "She is frightened of going back to school."

The couple only realised the extent of Leah's bullying problem when they drove to Horwich to collect their daughter from the neighbour's home. She was covered in blood.

John Baumber, headteacher at Rivington and Blackrod, said he was unaware Leah had problems with bullying.

The school has a number of procedures to deal with the problem including "electronic bully boxes" to which pupils can e-mail their concerns.

Mr Baumber said: "We have worked with Leah's family on a number of social issues but there has been no mention of bullying. We take such incidents very seriously and would expel pupils if necessary."

He said the school was now making inquiries into Leah's case. Police are investigating the incident and are appealing for witnesses.