A 38-year-old man from Stroud has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked in the early hours of this morning.

Police are appealing for information after the man was brutally mugged by three men as he was walking along the public footpath on Cainscross Road around 12.40am.

He was admitted to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with a suspected broken collar bone, cracked ribs and lacerations to the head.

The man had been walking from Stroud town centre along Merrywalks and Cainscross Road before getting onto the footpath which leads to Tesco.

Three males are believed to have mugged the man around 15 metres from the main road, making off with his wallet.

Detective Constable Debbie Willats said: "The investigation is only at its early stages but it appears this was a completely unprovoked attack.

"The man's injuries are horrendous and the whole attack brutal.

"We need to find these people and that's why I want to appeal to the community to come forward with information.

"It's possible these men followed the victim out of town before attacking him so I would appeal to anyone who may have seen them beforehand or seen three males acting suspiciously earlier in the evening to call us straight away.”

If you have any information about this mugging, call the police on 101 quoting incident number 10 of March 20.