Women who tortured elderly man in Ashton-under-Lyne are jailed

Two women who tortured a disabled, elderly man in his home while bingeing on his alcohol have been jailed.

Amy Squires, 27, and Megan Stafford, 28, were sentenced after admitting the attempted murder of the 78-year-old man in Ashton-under-Lyne last October.

The pair kicked, stabbed and tried to suffocate their victim before falling asleep drunk on his sofa, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Police branded the attack "utterly sickening".

Det Ch Insp Richard Ennis, from Greater Manchester Police, said: "How anyone could carry out such a horrific attack on a defenceless, elderly man is incomprehensible.

"They brutally tortured him despite him screaming and pleading for them to stop."

Mr Ennis said the two women "had every intention" of killing him and even took enjoyment out of telling him they would.

"He truly believed he would die there lying on the floor," Mr Ennis added.

The man was asleep at his home when he was woken up by a noise from his living room about 04:00 BST on Sunday 30 October last year, the court heard.

He went into the room where he found Stafford and Squires rifling through his belongings and drinking his alcohol.

They shoved him to the floor and began kicking him in the face and body. Squires then took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him in the neck before Stafford went through his pockets to steal cash from his wallet and his watch from his wrist.

After being tortured for four hours, the victim - who has impaired mobility - was hit over the head with a statue and fell unconscious in a pool of blood.

When he eventually came round, he found Stafford and Squires drunk and asleep on the sofa and then staggered outside to raise the alarm with a passer-by.

Police officers found Squires, of Coronation Road, and Stafford, of Dean Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, still asleep when they arrived to arrest them.

They were both sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison.