Appeal to drivers after attack

The victim had told her boyfriend she was being followed

Police in Lancashire hunting a man who battered a woman with a brick have been speaking to drivers in the area where she was attacked.

On Saturday officers stopped drivers in the Stanley Park area of Blackpool, a week after the woman sustained serious facial injuries in the attack.

The woman was on the phone to her boyfriend when the man hit her about 12 times with the brick, at about 0210 BST in West Park Drive on 26 July.

On Friday her boyfriend, Neil Whiteman, made an appeal to catch the attacker before he strikes again.

Mr Whiteman heard the woman's screams as she was beaten around the head.

'Distant screams'

Minutes before the attack the woman told Mr Whiteman she was being followed by the man.

At a press conference on Friday, he said: "I just heard her saying 'he's coming towards me, he's coming towards me'.

"Then from a distant sound I just heard her screaming.

The e-fit has been distributed to pubs and clubs

"The mobile had obviously left her ear and face and I could just hear her screaming 'Get away from me, get off!'.

"At the end of the day if a person is capable of doing that, he's going to do that to someone else."

An e-fit of the attacker has been distributed to pubs and clubs across Blackpool.

Detective Inspector Colin Fish said: "The e-fit has been distributed widely...to the places that might have been frequented by the offender."

Police also want to speak to the driver of a Vauxhall Astra, which was seen driving at speed, around the time of the incident. They believe he may have seen what happened.

The attacker was white, aged in his late 20s to early 30s, 5 ft 8 ins to 5 ft 9 ins tall, and of stocky or medium build.

He had dark brown curtain-style hair and was wearing dark-coloured trousers and a white shirt.