These shocking pictures show a frail pensioner left battered and bruised after being brutally beaten and left unconscious in a motiveless street attack.
Shaken Geoff Richardson, 69, was left with two horrendously swollen black eyes and a suspected broken nose and is now too scared to leave his own home.
The retired baker says he was set upon by a group of youths as he was walked to meet his friend in the pub at about 8pm on Saturday night (Dec 3).
Due to being knocked out cold during attack, he was unaware how long the vicious assault lasted.
But, he said he woke up face-down on the curb, struggling for breath following the attack in Blackburn, Lancs.
Mr Richardson said: “I can’t get my head around why somebody would want to do this to me. I would not hurt a fly.
“It was unprovoked. I had money in my pocket and a mobile phone and they did not take anything.”
Describing what he can remember, the pensioner said: “I walked into the Last Orders pub at around 8pm on Saturday, but there was nobody in there so I left. I should have got a taxi, but I decided to walk.
“I walked up Darwen Street and turned up to Sam’s Bar, crossed the road, saw some youths and thought nothing of it.
“I put my foot on the pavement and a blow came out of nowhere.
“They must have given me a hell of a beating. I must have been knocked unconscious.
“I woke up face down with three quarters of my body in the road. My glasses were off and the lenses were on the pavement.
“My hands were covered in blood which must have been from my nose.”
The injured OAP was helped off the ground by someone who came out of a nearby bar and phoned the police, and was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary.
Mr Richardson also suffers from a lung condition which meant he woke up struggling to breath.
He added: “I can’t get my head around it at all. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me.
“You do not expect it walking across the road. It was the last thing on my mind.
“It was a vicious unprovoked attack.”
If his physical injuries weren’t bad enough, Mr Richardson said the incident had put him off going out.
“I went to the post office yesterday but it was a struggle. I was edgy but I thought it was no good stopping in for days and days. I am trying to get out,” he said.
“It has been a hell of a shock. It’s really knocked me for six.
“I would not wish it on anyone,” he explained.
Mr Richardson said the bruising was starting to go down and he was getting plenty of rest, he is due to go back to the hospital in the next few days so doctors can examine his nose.
His niece Angela Curwen, 51, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs., said: “This is just disgusting, how could they do this, he is just a frail old man.
“I love my uncle and it is just devastating for this to happen.
“He is very shaken up and scared by it and is petrified to leave the house now.
“The people who did this are scum of the earth, doing this to an old man.
“We just don’t know why they did it, because they didn’t take anything. Either they just wanted to attack him for the sake of attacking of someone or the were going to rob him and they got disturbed..
“I was absolutely horrified when I saw his injuries, I didn’t expect them to be so bad.
“We have been asking people to share the pictures on social media to try and help catch them.
“If anyone saw anything we would ask them to contact the police. I want it out there. It is a disgusting thing to happen.
“At that time of night there must have been people around.”
A police spokeswoman said they were made aware of the incident at 8.20pm on Saturday.
She said they were given a description of an Asian male and enquiries were on-going.