A DISABLED man who suffers from heart trouble became the latest victim of teen violence on Darwen's troubled St James's Estate - which has been dubbed The Bronx - on the eve of his 53rd birthday.

Phillip Day, of Ivinson Road, needed three staples in a gaping wound in his head after he said he was struck with a crow bar by one of three youths who were trespassing in his garden at 7pm yesterday.

Mr Day claims another of the youths was brandishing a carving knife and threatened him during the daylight attack.

He said: "My dog was barking to go out so I went to the back door. I could see three lads at the bottom of my garden.

"When I went out a second time they were in the garden and at my door.

"I said something and then all of a sudden one of them hit me over the head with a crow bar.

"One of the other lads had a knife, and was threatening me with it." Mr Day said his three attackers should be locked up for what they have done.

He said: "I was no angel when I was younger, I have been in borstals as a lad and they changed me.

"We are too soft on kids these days, community service and probation isn't the answer."

Mr Day said he had seen the youths who attacked him in the street.

"One of them is definitely still at school and about 14, and the others were aged between 15 and 19."

Police said they believe the youths, who are thought to be local, may have stolen property from the house.

Det Insp Terry Richardson said: "If these youths are local then it is possible they knew about their victim's heart trouble. It was a dangerous, stupid thing to do and the results of their actions could have been much worse."

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