MASKED thugs attacked a pensioner outside his front door before slashing the 72-year-old's hand with a knife.

Great-grandfather Peter Trow needed 11 stitches after being knocked to the ground while attackers searched his home.

Mr Trow was unlocking the door to his flat in Peel Court, Attwood Street, Kidsgrove, just before midnight on Thursday.

He told The Sentinel: "I had been to the Labour Club and I came through the front door of the block of flats and they must have come in behind me without me noticing.

"I was unlocking the door to my flat and someone jumped on me from behind.

"There was two of them and one had a knife, which cut me right along my hand.

"One had hold of me and I tried to elbow him off, but he'd got me too tight and pinned me down.

"I didn't really see them because they came from behind me and they had balaclavas on."

While Mr Trow lay on the ground, the men went inside his flat and searched a cupboard to the left of the front door.

He said: "They didn't go into the main flat, they just went in the cubby hole. They must have been looking for something someone had told them was in there.

"I think maybe they were looking for drugs and had got the wrong flat. When they had looked in there they ran off."

The attackers took the pensioner's front door keys, which were later recovered in nearby Gilbert Close. Nothing else was stolen.

Police and paramedics were called to the scene and Mr Trow was taken to hospital for treatment to his hand.

The divorced father-of-eight said: "There was blood everywhere – up the walls and all over the floor. I had to have 11 stitches.

"It was frightening, especially when you see someone with a knife. It hasn't put me off going out, though."

Detective Sergeant Steve Chadwick, of North Staffordshire CID, said: "This is a despicable crime and has left an elderly man shaken with a nasty injury to his hand that has needed hospital treatment.

"We are appealing for anyone who may have seen anything or know anything to contact us."

Anyone who can help should call Staffordshire Police on 0300 123 4455, quoting reference 822 of January 28, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.