TWO drunken men, who burst into a pensioner's house searching for a man who had attacked them, beat up the wrong man, a court heard.

Eric Gunning, who had helped the elderly man to his home from the pub, was attacked without warning and beaten around the head and body with a wooden pole.

Robert Gray and his friend Gary Wilkinson had both earlier told a policeman that a man called Gareth Hughes had attacked them and they were going to get their revenge. But they had so much to drink they attacked Gunning because they had seen him with Hughes earlier that evening.

Gray, aged 42, of Cowper Street, Leigh, and 35 year-old Wilkinson, also of Cowper Street, Leigh, appeared for sentence at Bolton Crown Court.

They admitted unlawfully wounding Eric Gunning at a house in Pallatine Square, Leigh on June 14 this year.

Prosecutor Alaric Bassano said Wilkinson and Gray approached a police officer in Leigh and told him they had been attacked by a man called Gareth Hughes. They told the officer they were going to attack him but the officer warned them not to take the law into their own hands.

Shortly after midnight they went to Edward Durrington's house in Pallatine Square where they believed Hughes would be.

Instead when they entered the house without being asked they found Eric Gunning who had escorted Mr Durrington home from the pub. They attacked him with the wooden pole they had taken with them and hit him

several times on the head and punched him in the face.

Gunning was treated at hospital for two wounds to the back of his head and cuts, abrasions and bruises on his head and body.

The court heard that Wilkinson and Gray had both been attacked by Hughes the week before and had been left with black eyes.

Judge Martin Steiger sentenced the men to a two year Community Rehabilitation Order with a proviso they attend the substance related offence group.

Wilkinson was ordered to pay his victim £1,500 compensation and Gray was ordered to pay £500. Both men were also ordered to pay £500 court costs each.