VILLAGERS in Eynsham reacted with shock last night to the news of a man targeted outside his home in a vicious baseball bat assault.

The 40-year-old man was kicked and beaten by a gang in his own front garden in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Doreen Kennard, of The Pantry, has been in business for two years in the village and said she had never heard of such an attack.

She told the Oxford Mail: “I am surprised to hear it – although nothing really surprises me in this country. It is a quiet place in general. It’s too easy to blame kids though.

“But the kids that come in here off the bus from school are lovely - the boys are all very polite.”

Detectives investigating the case dubbed it a “cowardly attack” and are appealing for witnesses who might have been in the Witney Street area around 12.30am and 1am.

The victim was woken by youths who were in his garden and he went outside to confront the gang of six before they ran off, returning later and knocking at his door. As he tried to make them leave he was hit in the face with what police believe was a baseball bat, falling to the ground where he was kicked and stamped by the yobs who made off in a car.

He was treated at the John Radcliffe Hospital for a broken bone in his face, three chipped teeth, swelling to his eye and cuts and bruises.

Anyone with information on the incident should contact Det Con O’Grady on 0845 8 505 505 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.