A SMACK in the eye was not a welcome present for 14 years-old Daniel Heaton on his birthday.

But that's just what the Leigh teenger got at the hands of a pair of thugs while on a 'peaceful' fishing expedition.

Daniel, his brother Nicky, 10, and their pal Dean Sanderson, 13, were all fishing in a pond behind Howe Bridge Sports Centre, they were approached by two teenagers around 16 or 17 years old who threatened to take Daniel's bike off him.

After a protest Daniel, a pupil at St Mary's RC High, Astley, was hit in the face and left with a black eye while Dean was physically thrown into the pond by the hoodlums.

Nicky was spared a similar fate fate telling them he couldn't swim.

Daniel and Nicky's mum, Barbara, of Kirkhall Lane, Leigh, said angrily: "These morons launched this attack without any provocation and I want them caught and I hope anyone who saw the incident will come forward.

"They were both big lads, and one of them had a slight scar on his left cheek and was wearing a baseball hat, while the second one had blonde hair, and is thought to be called Michael and comes from Tyldesley."

Anyone with any information should contact Leigh Police Station or any police officer.

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