A PEACEMAKER who was beaten so badly his own mother did not recognise him has spoken of the traumatic impact it has had on his life.

Lee Wright, 38, told of his ordeal after his attacker Ryan Lee Brogan, 31, was jailed for eight years.

Brogan, of Full View, Blackburn, attacked Mr Wright with a pool cue and bar stool and then stamped on his head twice.

Mr Wright was beaten after trying to break up a fight at the Brown Cow pub, Livesey Branch Road, on April 26.

He was left with a broken nose and cheek bones and detached retina from his right eye. Doctors have said his sight may never recover.

Brogan pleaded guilty to grievious bodily harm and was sentenced to eight years in prison at a hearing at Preston Crown Court today.

Mr Wright was kept at a specialist eye clinic at Burnley General Hospital for three days, but the swelling took over a month to go down. He has since had two operations on his eye and awaits brain scan results.

Speaking after the case he said: “My face was so swollen I couldn’t recognise myself. Even my own mother walked past me.

“The view from my right eye is one I can only explain as looking through fog and the vision from the centre of my eye is black and almost shadow-like.

“I suffer from headaches on a daily basis.”

The attack has meant Mr Wright has taken weeks off work as a precision metal shearer at Metasheet in Dickens Street, Blackburn. He can now only perform light duties.

The injuries have also stopped him from enjoying his passions, such as making videos, drawing and painting, and riding his motorbike.

On the incident, he said: “This attack was cowardly and unprovoked and I’m just glad he never carried a knife or who knows what outcome my family and friends would then be faced with.

“The sentence is higher than I expected. We were told it would probably be about four or five years.

“I feel sorry for his kids and for his family.

“I really hope he is sorry for what he’s done.”

Detective Constable Mark Cruise said: “The ferocity of the attack can only be explained by saying that within five minutes of it happening, people who had known Lee all their lives did not recognise him.

“The violence used was way, way off the park.”

In the early hours of April 26 Mr Wright had been drinking at the Brown Cow as his girlfriend Angela O’Toole worked behind the bar.

Just before 1am a fight broke out between Brogan’s group of friends who were there celebrating his wifes’ birthday, and another group of couples.

It is alleged that Brogan was hit in the face with a pool cue, and then descended into “tunnel vision” rage.

Fearing his girlfriend was at risk, Mr Wright went over to break the fight up, with his hands held in the air, but Brogan turned on him.

Mr Wright, of the Livesey area of Blackburn, cannot remember anything until he woke up in agony in hospital the next morning.

Ms O’Toole screamed in horror as she witnessed the attack.

She said: “Ryan landed one heavy blow to the back of his head that sent him falling to the floor, and when he was down they kept hitting him with a bar stool and stamping on his head.”

Judge Anthony Russell QC told Brogan: “A completely innocent man trying to act as a peacemaker has suffred very grave injuries.

“The fact of the matter is you could have killed him and it’s a mercy that you didn’t.”