A man in his early fifties has been left with serious injuries after he was attacked from behind while he was walking to work in Plymouth.

The attack at around 8am today on Embankment Road Lane South in the Prince Rock area of Plymouth (a service lane near Cotehele Avenue) left him with serious wounds to the head.

 Detectives are keen to hear from any witnesses who were nearby at the time of the incident.

The victim appears to have been hit on the back of the head with a blunt tool or implement. He has a number of large wounds to the head which required stitching.

A police spokesman said: “At the moment we don’t have a motive for this assault. The victim was lucky to get away with some nasty wounds – it could’ve been much worse. I want to appeal to anyone who saw or heard something that might relate to this incident to get in touch and help us catch this person.”

The suspect is described as a white man, aged between 40 to 50 years old, who was wearing dark clothing with a dark hood. He was last seen heading towards Cotehele Avenue in Prince Rock.

Local residents are being asked to check their gardens and yards for any items that do not belong to them which may have been discarded.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Police on 101 and quote crime number CR/017990/15 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.