POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a man was knocked out and left with a serious facial wound and fractured ribs in Margate. The 26-year-old from Westgate needed 17 stitches to the cut following the attack at Canterbury Road, Westbrook.

He told police that he had been looking for his girlfriend after they had left a seafront nightclub and had asked a group of four men if they seen her.

Police spokeswoman Gemma Pettman said: “For no apparent reason the victim was then seriously assaulted. He remembers nothing except that he had been knocked to the ground and that he had a serious facial wound when he got up.”

The man was treated at Margate's Queen Mother Hospital. The only clue to his attackers’ identities is that one of the group wore a brown jacket.

Anyone travelling home after the local clubs shut and who saw the attack is asked to telephone Det Con Katrina Whitehead on 01843 222133.