A TEENAGE boy suffered a terrifying ordeal in his own home after being beaten and left tied up for six hours.

Derek Bond, 15, was freed when his mother returned home after work to find her son, devastated and traumatised, bound to a computer table in the living room.

Derek, who was late setting off to St Christopher's High School, Accrington, had opened the door of his home in Warwick Street, Church, to be greeted by a man claiming to be carrying out an survey on internet use.

Police said the man pushed Derek into the house when he realised he was on his own.

He then punched Derek in the stomach, knocking him to his knees. Derek screamed 'please don't hurt me' as the man threatened him and began to tie him to the table.

A gasman then knocked at the door, and the man fled through the patio. He took 25 computer CDs on his way out but dropped them as he made his escape over the garden wall.

Derek's parents Brett and Elaine spoke of their shock at the incident could happen.

They said they were trying to carry on as normal, as dwelling on it would make coping harder.

Elaine said she was thankful she returned from work early at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, where she is a nurse in the opthalmology department.

Derek's hands were blue because of the pressure of the knot, and the couple fear serious damage could have been done if he had been left much longer.

He was attacked at 9am on Monday and his mother arrived home at around 3pm.

"I heard him shout 'Mum come here' ", she said.

"I looked around and then I saw his hands were tied to the computer table.

"It's not what you think is going to happen when you come home from work.

"I kept saying 'who has done this?' He was so upset he couldn't tell me who had done it, except that a man had done it.

"I got a sharp knife to cut him loose. His hands were blocks of ice. The patio had been open all day so it was cold. "

Derek had pulled the computer table as far away from the wall as he could but could not free himself.