Two jailed for metal pole attack on sleeping man

Wayne Baines and Jack Williams were jailed at Preston Crown Court

Two men have been jailed for a "violent attack" with a metal pole on a man who was sleeping on the sofa in his own home.

The victim, a man in his 40s, suffered two fractured eye sockets, a fractured rib and a bleed on the brain as his screams were caught on CCTV during the assault in Chorley in May, Lancashire Police said.

Wayne Baines, 32, of Chorley, was found guilty by a jury of grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear, and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and was jailed for 18 years.

Jack Williams, 28, of Maghull, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to the same offences and was sentenced to 12 years.

'Mistaken identity'

Lancashire Police said the victim had run into Baines, who he knew, in the pub in Chorley on 31 May last year.

The victim, his brother, Baines and another man, later went back to the victim's home, where Baines claimed the victim had insulted someone earlier on in what police said was "a case of mistaken identity".

At about 04:00 BST, CCTV showed two men wearing balaclavas arrived at the house in a taxi, one of them carrying a metal pole.

A few minutes later, Baines came out of the house and greeted them- one of them was Jack Williams who was carrying an imitation firearm.

The men then entered the house and attacked the victim who was asleep on the sofa in the living room.

The man suffered two fractured eye sockets, a fractured rib and a bleed on the brain in the attack which was witnessed by his teenage son.

Lancashire Police launched an investigation, and Baines and Williams were arrested on 23 June at a hotel in Charnock Richard.

Following sentencing at Preston Crown Court, Det Con Ryan Lee said: "This was a violent attack with a weapon on a man in his own home, an attack which left him with serious injuries.

"The lengthy prison sentences show how seriously the sentencing judge regarded the attack."