THE mother of a teenage boy who was attacked by thugs has criticised a hospital for passing the wrong information about his injuries to police.

The 16-year-old boy,who is not being identified, was head-butted after being attacked by four youths as he walked home from school in Darlington.

He went to Darlington Memorial Hospital where he was not x-rayed but sent home with an advice card.

He then went to see his GP, who diagnosed a broken nose, and the teenager returned to the hospital where corrective surgery was carried out.

Police investigating the assault arrested a youth and passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.

But a statement from the hospital failed to mention the teenager's broken nose, stating only that it was swollen.

Lack of medical evidence forced the Crown Prosecution Service to reduce the charge from assault causing actual bodily harm to one of common assault.

The offending youth appeared in court on May 2 and was given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 compensation and £55 costs.

The victim's mother says the hospital is to blame for a "miscarriage of justice".

"It is obvious that Darlington Memorial Hospital has been negligent, initially by failing to carry out expected procedures and then compounding this mistake by sending an inaccurate report," she said.

"It appears to both my son and I that we have been sorely let down. We only hope that other victims of crime are not subjected to such a catalogue of neglectful procedures."

Her son said he was disappointed with the sentence given to the youth.

"Really it was the hospital to blame for sending the wrong report," he said.

The mother is seeking legal advice and has made a complaint to County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust.

A trust spokeswoman said: "We are in contact with this lady and we have apologised for what has happened to her son.

"We are currently looking into her concerns about the information that was given to the courts."

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: "We acted on the basis of the information we had on our file at the time.