POLICE are appealing for information after a racially motivated attack on a 31-year-old man.

The black man was walking home from a friend's house after getting off the train at New Cross Gate at 10.20pm.

He walked through the Woodpecker Estate, Deptford, and on reaching the end of the estate at the junction with Trundleys Road he saw a group of about six or seven white men who were walking towards him under the bridge.

They were spread out across the pathway and as he neared them one of the men stopped directly in front of him and began talking on a mobile phone.

The victim put his hand on the man's shoulder in an attempt to get past and said "excuse me" but the man did not move.

He tried again to get past and accidentally knocked the man's phone out of his hand.

The man shouted at him and the victim was hit from behind with something that appeared to burst.

The victim then smelt alcohol, turned and hit the man. There was then a fight.

The victim was eventually hit to the floor where he was kicked and stamped on.

The man who was on the mobile phone then jumped on the victim and bit his ear causing it to split.

The victim suffered a broken thumb, fractured jaw, a split ear lobe and cuts and bruises.

The men then ran off but one of the group stopped to hurl racial abuse at the victim.

The suspects were white and were drinking from beer cans.

The man with the mobile phone was approximately 5ft 5in to 5ft 7in with black hair, a slim build and wearing a dark blue tracksuit, white T-shirt and light coloured trainers.

The suspect who shouted abuse was in his late 20s, with dark hair and a bald patch and sideburns and was wearing a T-shirt.

Anyone with information on the September 5 incident is asked to call 0208 284 8460 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.