A LEIGH man had a lucky escape after a petrol bomb was thrown through the kitchen room window of his home as he slept.

Shortly after 1.30am on Tuesday, the window of the Wigan Road property was smashed with a brick, and the crude bomb was thrown into the kitchen.

The occupier, who had fallen asleep in the living room, heard the window being smashed and was able to escape from the front of his home.

The house had been fitted with a smoke alarm which did not have a battery.

Station Officer Paul Sharples says the man would not have escaped if he had been upstairs when the fire started.

He said: "The fire was in the kitchen, and was spreading to the stairs when we arrived. Had the man been in bed upstairs, he would not have been woken by the noise and may have perished.

"He would not have been woken by the smoke alarm, as it was out of action."

Police are investigating.