POLICE are appealing to a group of youngsters captured on CCTV, who may have witnessed a brutal assault at a petrol station in Shenfield, to come forward.

A 44-year-old local man had been out for the evening and went to the petrol station near Alexander Lane to get some cigarettes in the early hours of Sunday, July 20.

When he came out of the shop he was surrounded by a large group of teenagers who attacked him.

The victim went home after the assault and did not want to make a complaint to police at the time. However he went to hospital two days later and found that he had skull fractures and a bleed on the brain.

Detectives have released CCTV pictures of a group of young people who they believe witnessed the incident and they urgently need them to come forward and tell police what they saw.

Police stress that the people caught on CCTV are witnesses and not suspects.

Investigating officer Dc Stephen Baker said: "I am very keen to hear from these witnesses who may be able to provide vital information to identify the suspects."

Dc Baker can be contacted at Loughton Police Station via 101.