Two arrested after burglars armed with machete assault woman in Leigh

A man and teenage boy have been arrested after an aggravated burglary at an address in Leigh overnight left a woman with serious hand injuries from a machete.

Police were called at around 2.20am this morning (Monday 19 October 2020) to reports that two masked men forced entry into an address on Warwick Street and threatened the female occupant with machetes while assaulting her.

The offenders then made off on foot with a number of items including a mobile phone.

The woman - aged in her 40s - suffered serious cuts to her hands and went to hospital for treatment. She has since been discharged.

With support from GMP's dog unit, officers detained a 25-year-old man and 17-year-old boy who have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary and remain in custody for questioning.

Enquiries are ongoing.

Detective Sergeant Jim Harris, of GMP's Wigan CID, said: "This was a vicious and traumatising attack in the early hours this morning that caused an awful amount of distress for the victim who suffered serious cuts to her hand as a result.

"Thanks to superb work from officers on the Wigan district and with support from the dog unit we have been able to arrest two men in relation to this incident and I hope these arrests offer the community some reassurance at this time.

"Our investigation is its very early stages and enquiries are ongoing so I appeal to anyone who may have information about this incident to contact police with any details they know of as it could be significant to our enquiry."

Anyone with information should call police on 0161 856 7770 quoting incident number 192 of 19/10/2020. Details can be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.