Hampshire Constabulary

Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a man was assaulted and his jaw was broken on the evening of Saturday, March 21.

Between 6.30pm and 8pm, the man was with his family in the Green Posts pub on London Road, having a meal.

A group of men sat near to the family were being rowdy and were throwing coins into the air, possibly as part of a game.

Some of the coins were hitting other customers, and one hit a baby that was being held by its mother.

The 38-year-old man who had been eating with his family approached one of the men from the rowdy group and said, “Come on guys, what are you doing – this is a family area.”

The man he had approached then punched him in the face, causing his jaw to break in two places.

The injured man has now had an operation to insert a plate into his jaw.

The man who hit him is described as:

• White
• Aged in his late 20s
• 6ft – 6ft 2ins tall
• Muscular build with broad shoulders
• Clean shaven
• Very short fair hair
• Wearing a light green ‘v’ neck jumper that had a white collar, and blue jeans

Detective Constable Lorraine Bell said, “This was an unprovoked attack that happened while a number of young children were in the pub. The injured man had been concerned for his own children and approached the group with a view to just talking to them and has suffered a serious injury as a result.

“This is a rare incident to happen in such a family orientated pub and I would reassure patrons that we are doing all we can to identify the man responsible. It is estimated that there were around 200 people in the pub at the time of the incident and I would appeal to anyone who saw or heard what happened to come forward.”