Shortly after, a second man approached the victim, made threats to take her bag, before pushing her to the ground and punching and kicking her, resulting in concussion and facial and rib injuries. The suspect ran off with nothing stolen.

Schoolchildren came to the victim’s aid before emergency services arrived, and she was taken to hospital for treatment.

CCTV and witness enquiries have since been ongoing.

The suspect is described as white, 5ft 8in tall, of slim build and wearing a dark tracksuit. He spoke with a Liverpool accent.

Detective Inspector Judith Blease said: “All violence is unacceptable but the circumstances of this assault are particularly despicable. In the immediate aftermath of doing someone a good deed, the victim was attacked.

“As you can imagine, this has left her extremely distressed and suffering injuries, and we are supporting her as we try to find the person responsible. Thankfully schoolchildren came to her aid, as she had done for the elderly gentleman, and we thank them for their kindness.

“I would urge anyone who saw this incident, or was passing the location at the time and may have captured the person on home CCTV or dashcam, to let us know, and we can remove this man from the streets.”

Anyone with information can contact @MerPolCC, call 101 with reference 19100351427 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
 

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English breakfast & lunch 76/78 Stanely Rd. Liverpool, Bootle L20 2AB Opening hours 7.30am - 9.30pm