A YOUNG reveller could lose the sight in one eye after being the victim of a spray attack in a busy nightclub.

Christopher Armstrong, 26, was one of several hundred clubbers on the dance floor of Trades nightclub, in Consett, at about 1am on Sunday, when someone sprayed an ammonia-type substance in his face, blinding him in his left eye.

Mr Armstrong, a van driver for a courier company, was last night recovering at the Eye Infirmary in his home town, Sunderland.

Experts at the hospital have expressed serious concerns about his injury and fear vision in the affected eye may not return.

Mr Armstrong's father, postal worker George, branded the thug behind the attack an animal.

"These people need to be taken off the street," he said.

"They are animals. Anyone who is prepared to go around spraying chemicals in someone's face that could disfigure or kill them, doesn't deserve to be in society.

"My son is a pleasant lad who will socialise with anybody. He has never been in trouble like this before."

Christopher Armstrong and his friends regularly travel from Silksworth to Consett for a night out and have been to Trades before.

They had not been involved in an argument or dispute before the attack and have told police that the only offence they may have caused was if they accidentally bumped into someone while they were dancing.

Officers from Consett CID yesterday interviewed Mr Armstrong and began trawling through video footage from the club's security camera system, in a effort to find his assailant.

Detective Constable Paul Walmsley, who is heading the investigation, said: "This was an incredibly irresponsible act and the result may be that Christopher's sight is permanently damaged.

"The club was busy at the time of the incident and I am sure someone must have an idea who is behind this."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Consett CID on (01207) 504204.