A MAN has been jailed for life for brutally attacking a man from Radcliffe after sleeping with him.

David Summers met his victim at a nightclub in Manchester's Gay Village on September 29 last year. The two men went back to the victim's flat in Radcliffe, where Summers later attacked the other man after learning that he was HIV positive.

The 26-year-old left his victim for dead, stealing the man's car and a suitcase filled with some of his belongings.

The car was traced to Halifax and then Kent, where Summers abandoned the vehicle following a police chase. The wanted man, whose last known address was in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, later gave himself up. He pleaded guilty on July 11 to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Appearing at Bolton Crown Court last Friday, Summers was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum six years before he can be considered for parole.

Part of the case was held behind closed doors to protect the identity of the victim, who was described only as middle-aged.

Recorder Rodney Carus QC said: "It appears that the victim was repeatedly and savagely beaten by fist and foot almost exclusively to his head.

"Having left the victim in the early hours of the morning Summers took the victim's car and drove it into the night. He left behind him a man who he had beaten to the point of him being unconscious. He left him, so it seems to me, for dead."

Neighbours called police at 10am on the Saturday after hearing noises coming from the flat. Officers found the vicitm unconscious and covered in blood.

The judge said: "He was struggling for life. The flat, particularly the lounge, showed the gory evidence of his assault. His life was hanging by a thread" He said the victim was unlikely to return to full health. He suffers a fear of crowds, unsteady walking and speech, short-term memory loss, and rapid mood swings.

The judge said: "This was a decent man who lived a quiet life, who looked after his elderly mother and kept himself to himself. He is no longer that man."

The defence tried to explain Summers' actions as a reaction to the shock realisation that he had slept with a man that had HIV. But the judge said HIV was a recognised risk of casual sex. He drew attention to Summers' previous convictions for violent assaults, telling him: "You are a very dangerous person when you've had a drink."