A CREWE teenager who had his skull fractured in an unprovoked attack on a night out in Nantwich town centre says he is too frightened to go back there again.

Ryan Ashley had been enjoying an evening with friends when he was the victim of a savage assault.

His skull was fractured as he was punched and fell to the ground, and he has lost the hearing in his right ear, which doctors fear he may never fully re gain.

Ryan, 17, a former student of South Cheshire College, described the moment he met his attacker outside the Pizza Parlour takeaway in Nantwich's Swine Market area in the early hours of Sunday, February 25.

Ryan said: 'We had been out and then gone back to a friend's house, and I was walking home when I got talking to someone outside the Pizza Parlour.

'We were just talking about football but he started arguing with me, so I ran away and he chased after me.'

He described his attacker as in his mid-20s, of medium build and speaking with a Stoke accent.

'I ran away and then turned round to see if he had gone when he hit me. That was the last thing I remember.'

Ryan was found unconscious near to the zebra crossing on Beam Street at around 2.35am. Distressed friends called an ambulance, and he was taken to Leighton Hospital for emergency treatment, then moved to North Staffordshire Hospital before being allowed home on Thursday.

'I woke up in hospital the following morning, and couldn't remember anything, but it has started to come back to me,' he added.

Ryan, of Howbeck Walk, Crewe, who now feels unsteady on his feet when he walks, does not intend to go out in Nantwich again after the attack.

'I won't be going out there again after this. I'm frightened in case I see him again.'

Police are appealing for witnesses who were in the area that night to come forward.

A spokesman for the Crewe Specialist Investigations Unit said: 'This is an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old boy who received very serious injuries. We believe a number of people may have seen something, and we appeal to anyone with information to contact us immediately.'

* Anyone with information is asked to phone the Crimestoppers Hotline on 0800 555111.