Scarred for life

The former soldier wanted to make sure 70-year-old Gertie McCabe was safe in the dark.

But just minutes after seeing her to her flat in Bolton town centre, a gang of street thugs attacked him with an axe or machete and beat him unconscious.

They stripped him of his valuables - and left him for dead.

He was found by a passer-by an hour later lying in a pool of blood.

The 37-year-old father of one was treated at the Royal Bolton Hospital and discharged the next day.

But five days later he was rushed to Blackburn Royal Infirmary for an emergency operation when an infection set in.

He is now recovering at home after being discharged from hospital on Monday.

"All I can remember about the attack is leaving Gertie's flat and then waking up in the ambulance," said Mr Greenhalgh.

"I don't know why anybody would want to do this to me. I don't owe anyone any money or have any enemies.

"At the end of the day I'm glad it happened to me and not Gertie because at least I've got youth on my side."

Mr Greenhalgh's father, Brian, aged 59, said: "When I first saw him after the attack I didn't recognise him.

"He's a strong, fit lad, he was in the army for nine years and served in Northern Ireland so he knows how to handle himself but he didn't stand a chance.

"The surgeon at Blackburn said if the weapon had gone three centimetres further down the back of his head, we would have been going to his funeral."

Mr Greenhalgh had walked the pensioner home from the Sweet Green Tavern in Crook Street, Bolton, on Tuesday, January 10.

CCTV footage shows him leaving the block of flats at about 9.45pm. After leaving, he walked down an alleyway between Grosvenor Casino and Hargreaves House.

And it was down the ginnel that the thugs struck.

Doctors have carried out three operations on the wound. Mr Greenhalgh is expected to make a full recovery eventually.

Mrs McCabe, said: "It's just awful. I can't believe what's happened to the poor lad.

"He was just being a gentleman escorting me home and then this happened to him.

"He left by the side gate and they must have been waiting in the bushes for someone to come along. It's terrified me and I won't go out after dark now.

Det Sgt John Fellowes, of Bolton CID, said no arrests had been made and police were analysing the CCTV footage. They plan to re-interview Mr Greenhalgh on Tuesday.

He said: "This man was thinking about another person when he offered to walk the elderly lady home and he has ended up with these horrific injuries.

"We would ask anybody who knows anything or who saw anything suspicious that night to get in touch with police."

Bolton's most senior police officer, Chief Supt Dave Lea, said violent crime was on a downwards spiral in Bolton.

He said: "This is directly as a result of the way we now tackle violent crime and it has been proven to work.

"As a result, Bolton has a below average level of violence for a town of its size and we are now more comparable with a small market town."

Mr Lea said the latest crime figures show violence crime against a person, which includes minor public disorder offences, rose by one per cent last year between January and December. However, serious violence fell by eight per cent.

Catalogue of violence in Bolton this year Sunday January 1: A 33-year-old man was hit in the face with a glass at the Flying Shuttle pub in Highfield Road, Farnworth, as violence erupted in the early hours of New Years Day.

Tuesday, January 3: AN 80-year-old woman was thrown to the ground by two robbers who snatched her handbag. The pensioner was walking along Skelton Grove, Breightmet, when they shoved her to the floor and ripped the bag off her shoulder.

Tuesday, January 10: Paul Greenhalgh was left with horrific injuries after a gang attacked him with an axe or machete then left him for dead in an alleyway. He had walked a local pensioner home in Bolton Town Centre.

Saturday, January 14: Ten customers were injured when a gang of six men burst into a Stoneclough pub armed with meat cleavers, crowbars and hammers. The terrifying raid happened at around 10pm at The Grapes in Market Street. Five of the injured needed hospital treatment.

Saturday, January 14: Teenager, Jason Morris, was attacked as he walked home from a friends house and left unconscious in a quiet back street in Great Lever. The attack was so severe, he has no recollection of it.

Monday, January 16: A mother was stabbed in the hand by two muggers. Carol Greenhalgh, aged 43, was attacked while walking along Bury Road, Breightmet, at about 9pm. Her attackers - a man and woman in their late 20s or early 30s -wrestled her to the ground before stealing her handbag.

Wednesday, January 18: A masked man armed with a knife robbed a shop in Deane. He walked into the Late Shop in Wigan Road as it was closing at around 11pm. The knifeman threatened a member of staff and stole cash from the till.