A "FRAGILE" teenager who beat up a businessman and left him with a detached retina was today starting an 18-month term of detention.

Patrick Whitney, 18, had suffered a horrendous childhood and may have attacked designer Andrew Cooke after all the frustrations of his younger years built up, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The early hours assault had had a devatasting effect on self-employed Mr Cooke, who does not know if his eye will ever fully recover from the assault. Whitney sobbed in the dock as his barrister told the court the teenager had been subjected to every possible humilitation by his late mother - the person who should have loved him most.

Sentencing, Judge Raymond Bennett told the defendant he had received a letter from his uncle outlining the dreadful treatment he had received at the hands of the man's sister. But Mr Cooke worked in computers and his job depended on his eyesight. The judge went on: "You attacked him for what reason I cannot imagine unless it was a welling-up of all the frustration of your childhood. He was an innocent man and he is entitled to be protected."

Whitney, of York Street, Crawshawbooth, admitted grievous bodily harm with intent. He had no previous convictions. John O' Shea, prosecuting, told how Mr Cooke had parked his Mercedes car outside the Top Club in Commercial Street, Loveclough, near to his home. He later heard the car alarm sound and went to investigate and saw the windows had been smashed. Whitney was standing next to the vehicle and launched an attack.

John Chaplin, defending, said Whitney's mother had subjected him to every form of humiliation.