A MAN was left with a brain injury after he was stamped on and kicked in a daylight attack.

The attack happened on the junction of Eld Lane and Lion Walk, close to Vineyard Steps, at 4pm on Monday.

Witnesses said the attacker “stamped on his head”.

Liana Burlo, a friend of the victim, has been looking after him since he was discharged from hospital.

She said: “He has a fractured eye socket and cheek bone and has numerous injuries to his skull.

“A passing lady managed to shout loud enough to get them to stop.

“There was blood everywhere. This has broken my heart.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “An ambulance crew attended the call at 4.08pm to a report of a man with a head injury. He was taken to hospital for further care.”

The Gazette has seen a video where a boy circling a man on the ground in an aggressive manner and can be heard to ask: “Are you ready for round two” before taking his coat off.

The video does not show what happened before the man was on the ground.

Miss Burlo said the victim was going through a bad time as it was the day after Mother’s Day and his mother had died a couple of years ago.

The assault coincided with a police public safety operation call Project Servator.

However, specialist officers from Colchester were in a different part of town at the time.

Mike Lilley, Colchester councillor responsible for public safety, said there should be more police in the town centre.

He said: “It sounds like a horrendous thing to have happened and I hope he recovers quickly.

“Whoever did this to him needs to be brought to task. It’s unfortunate it happened on the day when police were concentrating on Project Servator.

“Obviously when there is a project going on they have a lot of officers in one area but because of the lack of police they can’t be everywhere at once.”

He called on Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst saying the town needs to have a specialised town centre policing team back.

He said: “It’s pretty simple. It’s getting to the point where people are being beaten up because there’s no-one to prevent it.

“We want people to feel safe, when is the police and crime commissioner going to change his tack?”

He is meeting with Mr Hirst next week to discuss the issue.

We contacted Essex Police. The force is aware of the incident and officers are trying to establish what happened but no-one was available to provide an official comment at the time of going to press.