A teenager was robbed after a gang of men smacked him over the head with a golf club in an unprovoked attack in Southend.

The 18-year-old man was walking alone along Coleman Street when a gang of five men approached him from behind.

One of the men hit him over the head with the golf club while the others launched an onslaught of kicks and punches.

During the attack, the gang stole the teenager’s bag containing his drink, sweets and mobile phone.

The attacker are all described as black and the robbery happened between 6.30pm and 6.50pm last Thursday.

On the same day, a 19-year-old man from Southend was walking down Queensway, when he was approached by two black men, who demanded he hand over his money.

When he refused, they punched him in the face and stole his white Iphone, money and cigarettes from his pockets.

Chief inspector Simon Anslow, district commander for Southend, said the attacks were not being treated as linked, but he was not ruling out the possibility.

On Monday at about 6.25pm, a thug pushed a 32-year-old woman off her electronic unicycle as she was riding along Albert Road.

He said to her: “That’s mine now mate” before scooping it off the floor and running off.

The man was described as white, aged between 28 and 30, 5ft 8ins tall and was wearing a black woollen hat, jacket and trousers.

Martin Terry, Southend councillor for public protection, said: “I know, as having been a councillor for many years, the one thing that people really want is to feel safe in their communities.

“Anyone, whether you are running a shop, going to the pub or the post office, should be able to go about their daily lives without fear of violence and unfettered by criminals.

“This is extremely shocking and concerning.

“Chief inspector Anslow is coming into the council next week and we will be grilling him about this.

“We don’t want this happening on our streets. We need more officers on the streets to tackle these problems.”