A BLACKBURN man who challenged two men after a snowball was thrown at his front window ended up with a broken collar bone and cheekbone.

Mark Gooding was punched and kicked by the pair outside his home, in Brodick Road, Shadsworth.

And one of those involved has been sentenced to two years’ detention for the violence and other offences.

Matthew Hughes, 19, appeared at Preston Crown Court for unlawfully wounding Mr Gooding, as well as a common assault on his mother Alison, and burgling her home, in Brodick Road.

The court heard the attack on Mr Gooding arose after ‘harmless snowball throwing’.

Simon Gurney, prosecuting, said shortly before midnight on December 23, Mr Gooding heard two loud bangs on his window.

He saw the teenager and another man walking up the street and shouted down the path to challenge them.

The man walked down his path to try and scare them off.

They walked back and an attack followed, with the resident punched and kicked.

Hughes, of Bury Road, Bolton, was seen to punch and kick the man to the head while he was on the floor.

A neighbour intervened. Hughes told police he had little recollection, having drunk two to three litres of vodka.

Hugh Barton, defending, said around the time of the offences, Hughes had been drinking to excess.

The barrister said: “There are two Matthew Hughes. One gets drunk and at times, egged on by peer group pressure, is aggressive, anti-social and unreasonable.

The other Matthew Hughes is genuinely remorseful, polite and courteous.”