Horsham man’s bludgeoned head glued back together

The 35 year old also suffered bruising to his left shoulder after the group of eight youths attacked him near the station entrance at 11.10pm.

Detective Constable Marie Jeffery, the investigating officer of British Transport Police (BTP), said the victim was walking towards the station when the group began to talk to him.

Shortly after, he was punched before being beaten to the ground by blows to his head.

The victim who lives locally, was rushed to hospital with two cuts to his head which both required gluing.

BTP are now appealing for witnesses to come forward, but have taken the unusual step of releasing CCTV images of people who are not linked with the assault but who may have key information.

DC Jeffery believes the man and women pictured may have witnessed the incident take place.

She said: “These people are not linked with the assault but we believe they could hold vital information that could help our investigation.

“We know that after the incident, these three boarded the 23.25 service from Horsham heading in the direction of Three Bridges station.

“We don’t believe that the man and women know each other as they boarded separate carriages and the man left the service at Ifield station whilst the women alighted at Crawley.

“Do you know these people? Or did you witness the incident? If you did we are very keen to speak with you.

“Crime on the network remains extremely low and offences of this nature are very rare.

“However, it’s vital that we find the people responsible and I would urge anyone with information to come forward and contact British Transport Police straight away.”

Anyone with information can contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 quoting incident number B11 of 4/11/2011, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Full story in tomorrow’s West Sussex County Times.