Father beaten senseless with snooker ball in sock for telling teenagers not to throw chips

Engineer David Thomas, 41, suffered serious injuries when he was struck with what he thinks was a snooker ball stuffed inside a sock.

He is just the latest householder attacked trying to protect his property, and the case once again raises questions over how far ordinary people should go in tackling thugs.

David Thomas was badly beaten after confronting a group of youths at his home

Mr Thomas was working on his computer when he saw two youths dropping food outside the front gate of his home in Droylsden, Greater Manchester.

'I went out and told him in no uncertain terms not to flick chips in front of my house, then he turned round and said 'They're not chips, they're onions'," the father-of-two said.

When he said he'd make them move, one retorted 'You can't do that - I'm 17'.

Injured: Mr Thomas' wound has been stapled shut

The youths left, but returned minutes later with a larger group, and when Mr Thomas went back outside he was struck over the back of the head with the home-made cosh.

At the time his daughters, Molly, eight, and Emily, five, were out visiting their grandparents, but his horrified wife returned home to find him injured and bleeding.

Mr Thomas was taken to Tameside Hospital where he had staples inserted into a gash in his scalp. He is also thought to have suffered concussion in the attack last week.

He said his wife Amanda, 38, teaching assistant, now feared the area was too dangerous for them to stay in, but he hoped it was a one-off.

Today he said he had feared he could end up fatally wounded, like Garry Newlove, the father-of-three punched and kicked to death after confronting a gang of drunken thugs vandalising his wife's car in Warrington, Cheshire last August.

'I'm fairly certain that if I had gone down then they would have continued to hit me and more would have joined in,' he said. 'But they were cowards and couldn't stand and fight.

'I'm big and daft enough to stand up for myself.'

Mr Thomas said he blamed a lack of authority in today's society compared to when he was growing up.

'When I was their age, I was terrified of the police, and even more than that I was terrified of what my mum and dad would say if I got up to no good.

'That's why I never did anything wrong. Yet this is a lawless kids society. Schools have no power.

'The parents don't know how their kids are acting unless they bring it home or get caught by a teacher or the police.

'You see the kids going up and down with the carrier bags with booze in, going to the park up the road. I don't know what it is, but they're not kids like we were kids.

'When we go to our caravan, our daughters do what we did when we were that age - making dens, playing on bikes and scooters. Most don't play like that anymore - they grow up too quickly. '

Mr Thomas was attacked at about 7.30pm on Monday, August 18.

Inspector Kevin Rankin, of Greater Manchester Police, said:'"This was an unprovoked attack on a man who simply wanted to talk to some teenagers about their behaviour. Their actions will not be tolerated.  '

Earlier this year, Government adviser Louise Casey warned that Britain was becoming a "walk on by" society because people were afraid to confront law-breakers in case they were attacked themselves or face arrest.

But last month Mayor of London Boris Johnson said people shouldn't get involved because the risk of becoming a victim themselves was just too high.'