A MAN was so savagely beaten his features were unrecognisable, a court heard.

Preston Crown Court was told that when paramedics arrived at the blood-stained scene, they found Gary Buckley, of Blackburn in the lowest possible level of consciousness.

His tie was so tight around his neck that it had to be cut off.

His attacker, 24-year-old John Carmichael had travelled to Blackburn on the day of the attack and did not know Mr Buckley. They had been drinking with two other men and a few hours after the attack, he handed himself in to police and confessed. Carmichael, of no fixed address, but from Dumfries, Scotland, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to attempted murder. He was jailed for six years.

Recorder of Preston, Judge Peter Openshaw QC told Carmichael: "This was a serious offence that must be met by a severe sentence."

Alan Simms, prosecuting, told the court the victim, Mr Buckley, who will be 38 shortly, could not remember the attack which took place in Wensley Road, Blackburn, on the evening of August 31 this year. He had been badly beaten and strangled. Carmichael had travelled from Scotland that day and met up with Ronald Kenyon, who lived in Wensley Road.

Carmichael and the others had been drinking during the day and had gone back to Wensley Road to continue drinking.

Paramedics were alerted and Mr Buckley was found in a bloodied state and had been badly beaten. Various parts of the house were splattered with blood.

Mr Buckley was in the intensive care unit overnight and was ventilated for four days. Against medical advice, he discharged himself from hospital on September 10.

Bob Crawford, defending, said it was clear that a substantial amount of drink was involved.

Carmichael, who found it difficult to cope in an environment outside custody had given a "chilling account" of what had happened.