A BOY aged 12 was struck on the head by a broken bottle as he walked home from a local shop.

Gareth Raines needed hospital treatment to glue together a deep cut in his ear after the attack yards from his home.

The teenager, of Longfellow Avenue, knocked on a neighbour's door for help before stumbling home to his father Alan with blood pouring from his head.

Mr Raines, aged 38, a self-employed tiler, said today: "It is not something that you expect to happen and it was quite shocking.

"He has gone quite quiet since it happened and is not himself. He has had his innocence taken away from him.

"Gareth is not one for going out anyway and he was only going to the shop. He walked home with blood streaming down his face."

The incident occurred last weekend in St Helens Road -- yards from his home.

Mr Raines said: "He just told me that he was going to the shop at about 9.20pm. I gave him some money and he left.

"He was on his way back when he was approached from behind as he had stopped to talk to a friend.

"We don't know where the bottle came from. All we know is that it was already smashed. It looks like it had been thrown."

Mr Raines said he called police after Gareth was released from the Royal Bolton Hospital and they are investigating.