A MAN, aged 59, who has the mental age of a child, has been left bewildered and terrified after he was beaten by teenage thugs while walking home.

Mr Glen Morton was left with a shattered cheekbone and two black eyes after he was set upon in a street in Halliwell.

His brother, Wayne, said: "The people who have done this are thugs. It is very hard to find the words to explain how I feel because of the anger.

"Glen can't understand it. He really doesn't know what is going on.

"He never speaks to anybody when he is out, only when someone speaks to him. If he walked past you, he would just put his head down and keep walking."

Mr Morton lives with his elderly mother in Halliwell

He was walking along Felton Walk, Halliwell, at 10.30pm on Saturday after an evening at the PHAB (Physically Handicapped Able Bodied) Club at the Jubilee Centre, where he plays snooker and enjoys taking turns as a DJ.

He described to his family how he was holding on to garden walls as he walked because the ground was icy. He was passed by three boys and two girls, aged about 17.

"They walked past him and he heard one of the girls saying 'get him'," said Wayne.

As Mr Morton clung on to the wall, one or more of the boys repeatedly punched him in the face before running off.

Terrified, he managed to stagger home and his family took him to hospital, where doctors discovered his cheekbone had been broken in four places.

And he learned on Monday that surgeons will have to insert a metal plate to help the bone heal, during an operation at Blackburn Royal Infirmary on Thursday.

Mr Morton attends college at Clarence Street twice a week to help him develop cooking and other everyday living skills.

He has also watched Bolton Wanderers at home and for the past 20 years, his social life has revolved around the Jubilee Centre club, which he attends every Saturday night.

But now he is refusing to leave his home or attend any of his usual activities.

Mr Morton said: "It has taken us a long time to get him out there in the first place. If this continues, then it is his life gone."

Det Insp Paul Hitchen, of Bolton police, said: "It is a really shocking incident - an unprovoked attack on a defenceless man," he said.

Anyone with information should contact Astley Bridge CID on 0161 856 5740.