A FATHER of three from Northfleet who was brutally attacked in broad daylight has undergone major surgery to reconstruct his face.

The 45-year-old local man was walking up an alleyway between Seymour Road and Wycliffe Row in Northfleet when he was blindsided from behind.

He sustained fractures to his cheekbones, nose, jaw and eye socket following the assault between 4.40pm and 5pm on Sunday, May 5.

The person or people responsible are still at large.

His devastated fiancée, who wished not be named as it may harm the police investigation, said: “He was blindsided from behind.

“He had his walkman on so he couldn’t hear anything and they managed to hit him so hard on the right hand side of his face that the surgeon said that the injuries were conducive to somebody being hit in a high speed car crash, not wearing their seatbelt, and hitting their head on the dash board.”

Minutes earlier the victim had a left a pub in Perry Street where he had been drinking with friends to walk home to have his tea.

A group of people enjoying a BBQ found  him lying on the ground in a pool of his blood and called the emergency services.

She said: “He saw half of his front tooth fly out as he was hit over the head, and curled up to try to protect his face.”

He was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital before being transferred to Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead to undergo surgery.

His fiancée, who has kept a constant bedside vigil, said: “It was a dangerous operation.

“The surgeon had to cut from one ear to the top of of his head and move the front of his face down.”

He is due to be released from hospital within the next few days.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Richard Debnam of Kent Police, said: “This was a nasty and vicious assault that has left the victim seriously injured.

“We will not tolerate violence and are asking anybody who saw anything leading up to or after the assault, or who witnessed the attack itself, to get in touch.”

Detectives are appealing for anybody with information about the assault to call Kent Police’s non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference XY/13767/13.