Police have appealed for witnesses following an assault upon a University of Cambridge student on Monday.

The “unprovoked” attack, which occurred in the early hours on the 29th of August, left a 26-year-old PhD student with “injuries to his head and face”, according to Cambridgeshire police.

It took place outside the TSB bank, which is situated between Emmanuel College and Christ’s College on St Andrew’s Street, in the early hours of Monday morning. The police have confirmed that no arrests have yet been made.

The victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told Varsity: “me and a friend were walking back to college from [Wetherspoons] at about 2:30am when a guy came up behind me outside TSB, grabbed my wrist, spun me round and punched me in the face.”

“I fell down and hit my head on a metal bollard on the way down. The attacker was immediately restrained by a friend he was with who pushed him up against a shop window. He was clearly absolutely wasted.”

Police have described the attacker as a white man in his mid-to-late 20s, about 5’ 11’’ tall, with sandy brown, short hair. He was wearing a light blue shirt, which was unbuttoned.

The attack lacked any clear motivation, with the victim telling Varsity that his assailant, “didn’t say a word, before, during or after the attack. And I didn’t speak to him or look at him before it happened. I think it was literally just proximity.”

The victim continued by saying that following the assault, he “got straight into a taxi after being helped by some passers-by” and “then spent the night in A&E” while his friend “ran back and managed to get a photo of the attacker.”

The attack left him with a broken nose, and he has had to return to hospital since being treated as his “symptoms got worse” for a CT scan.

The student told Varsity that the attack had come at “a really bad time.”

“I’m trying to write my PhD and on Tuesday I forgot the word for ‘chips’...so I don’t have a lot of confidence in anything I try to write in the next couple of weeks.”

“Generally speaking Cambridge is incredibly safe” he said, believing “the biggest danger to us is ourselves” in terms of consuming too much alcohol and, for example, injuring themselves. However, the student added that “there is more that can be done” to protect people out at night, particularly with regard to areas being better lit.

Anyone with information should contact Cambridgeshire police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.