THIS poor Lancaster teenager had his head rammed through a wall at Lancaster's ABC cinema by a thug in his late 20s a few weeks ago.

Now 13-year-old Andrew Wilson and his parents Tricia and Richard want witnesses to the beating to come forward so they can find justice.

The family reckon they know who the attacker was but they need anyone who saw what happened to contact the police.

Andrew told the story of how he was attacked: "Me and a friend went to see The Wild, Wild West on a Saturday night. Some kids were shouting and this man told them to shut up.

Those kids took the mickey again outside and he went mad and grabbed me. I wasn't anywhere near the ones who caused the trouble but he just got me. He punched me and kicked me down the stairs and smacked my head against the wall."

Andrew's mother was annoyed the police couldn't do anything against the man she suspects. She fumed: "We heard he had been bragging to his mates that he beaten up a 20-year-old. No-one could possibly put my Andrew at that age. He'd only just turned 13.

"The thing is if this was a case of mistaken identity, all right - he can come and apologise to my son and that would be that.

"Andrew's had a real rough year this year - stuff I won't go into now. This has really affected him. He called me at work when it happened and he was in a right state. I couldn't sleep myself for a few nights because of it. I want the police to do something but they say they need an independent witness."

Some people went to tell the manageress of the cinema what was happening and one man tried to stop the attack on Saturday, August 14. Lancaster police want any information to come forward. DS Martin Clague commented: "This is two months but if people know anything about any crime to come forward." Contact Lancaster Police on 63333 if you know anything.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.