A pensioner who was cruelly kicked into a river while he was fishing was saved by two schoolgirls who rescued him.
The 74-year-old man was fly-kicked and catapulted into the River Mersey while a laughing thug filmed the attack.
Two teenagers charged after the attack pleaded guilty to their roles in the sickening incident, which was filmed on Sunday, April 25.
In a Victim Personal Statement, the man's wife said her husband "believes he could have drowned that day, if it had not have been for the young girls that helped him out."
Friends Ellie Hughes and Khloe Woods, 14, were walking down the river bank in Warrington on Sunday and heard someone screaming for help and turned around to find the man in the freezing cold water.
The teens rushed to the man's aid and made a human chain to get him out of the water.
The court was told that since the shocking attack, the victim had been left "depressed" and reluctant to leave his house.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the defendants, Benjamin Bridgeman and a 15-year-old boy who cannot be named because of his age, attacked the 74-year-old man while he was fishing on the banks of the river at Howley around 2.30pm on Sunday, April 25.
Bridgeman, 18, of Yardley Avenue in Warrington, was seen to run at the man and inflict what the CPS termed "a karate-style flying kick" at him which pushed the man into the river.
The CPS said the 15-year-old filmed the attack while it was happening and then posted it on the social media platform Snapchat and put a smiling emoji next to it.
They ran off afterwards but could be seen later looking at the footage together and laughing.
The CPS said the pensioner suffered a cut to his nose and had been badly shaken up by the shock of what had happened and the effect of the cold water.
He lost his keys in the incident and also a silver dollar pendant which had great sentimental value. These were later recovered.
Both defendants handed themselves in a few days after the assault.
Yesterday at Warrington Magistrates’ Court, both of them pleaded guilty.
Bridgeman pleaded guilty to Assault by Beating and the 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to common assault.
They will be sentenced in June.
