AN angry mum claims her four-year-old son was slapped across the face during a "rage" assault by a door-to- door market researcher.

Janine Hoyle said she was stunned when the man, who had called at the house to conduct a survey about supermarkets, hit her son Christopher as they stood in her kitchen.

The researcher had been invited into Janine's house at Holmes Street, Great Lever.

She says they went into the kitchen where the little boy was playing and the researcher began to ask Janine questions while he entered the answers into a lap top computer.

She says she turned her back on the man to match up cards to a chart on the table but turned round quickly when she heard a crack as he hit Christopher.

Janine says she started shouting at the man who said he had had enough and packed his equipment away while she phoned the police and tried to comfort her son. Janine said: "Christopher had been playing up and was messing about but he was basically being a four-year-old and I was stunned when I realised he had hit him. He said 'I'm not putting up with this' and he started packing up.

"I know he hit Christopher very hard because I could hear it and his face was red raw. There is no way I would hit him on the head. As far as I'm concerned it was assault and I reported it to the police."

The researcher had identified himself and named the company he worked for but Janine said she was so shocked by the incident she could not remember. The man is described as being aged about 50, about 5ft 9ins tall, with dark hair and glasses and was wearing a brown coloured suit.

A police spokesman said they would not pursue the matter unless injury had been caused to the child.

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