A YOUNG father who is employed as a Tesco security guard has been left scarred after he was attacked in broad daylight.

Now 23-year-old Christopher Archbold says he is afraid to let his family walk alone into the village of Larkfield, near Maidstone.

Mr Archbold's ordeal began when was making his way towards the Martin Square shoppiung centre at lunchtime via the Lunsford Lane footbridge over the M20.

He got off his bicycle to fix the chain and was approached by two teenagers, one of whom asked for a cigarette and “a go on his bike”.

When Mr Archbold refused both requests, the pair became aggressive. “I got punched in the stomach, and they must have had a key, because they sliced all my stomach. They rammed my head onto the ground and stamped on my hand.”

Mr Archbold managed to reach his home in Chesterton Road, Larkfield, but his injuries were so severe that fiancee Dawn Dwyer, 22, immediately called 999.

Mr Archbold said he believed the boys just wanted a fight. Although he had been on his way to the bank, nothing was stolen.

PC Matthew Roddick, from Kent Police, described the attack as unprovoked and vicious but said it was an “isolated incident”.

Witnesses or anyone with information should call police 01622 604180.