COWARDLY thugs jumped a former soldier from behind and savagely attacked him as he walked home after a night out in York.

The gang of six pounced on father-of-two Stephen Higson, 40, in Bootham, punching him in the face and then kicking him in the head as he lay on the ground.

The ex-military man, who served 22 years with the Royal Green Jackets, suffered a badly broken nose, two black eyes and bruising to his head and arms.

But he has refused to let the yobs intimidate him and today pledged to carry on living as normal, despite his injuries.

Mr Higson, who now works for a security company and lives in Rawcliffe, said: "This is not going to stop me walking home at night. No one should let people like this get to them."

PC Tony Santorsola, of York Police, who is investigating the attack, has appealed for anyone who saw the attack, at about 3am on Friday, to come forward.

Speaking about the ordeal, Mr Higson said he was attacked after pushing his way through the group as they blocked his path at the junction of Bootham and Exhibition Square. He said: "I squeezed past, and the next thing I knew there were two hands around my neck and one of them smashed me in the face with his fist.

"I went straight to the ground and then they started kicking me in the face and head. The next thing I remember is holding some railings with my nose in my hand and there was blood everywhere.

"A woman who came and helped me said I wasn't knocked out. She said I went down and then slowly crawled back up again."

Mr Higson received treatment at York Hospital and has given descriptions of the youths, who were aged between 18 and 22, to the police. PC Santorsola said one of the attackers was 5ft 6in tall, of thin build and wore a dark cream jacket, a light-coloured baseball cap, dark jogging bottoms and white trainers.

He said officers were scouring CCTV footage from nearby cameras and planned to take a statement from a witness who had already come forward.

Anyone with information about the attack, or who recognises the description, should phone York Police on 0845 60 60 24 7 or Crimestoppers, for free and in confidence, on 0800 555 111.

Updated: 10:17 Tuesday, January 11, 2005