Two men who suffered horrific wounds in random attacks have urged readers to help bring their attackers to justice.
The men were left with serious injuries to their faces when strangers turned violent on them without warning in unrelated assaults.
A 36-year-old was left with a shattered cheekbone and eye socket and a dislocated jaw after a sudden attack in Belvoir Street, Leicester city centre.
The father-of-three, of Wigston, was assaulted late last year but has only just felt able to talk about his ordeal and urge witnesses to come forward.
In another attack, a man suffered facial injuries when two thugs turned on him as he collected his teenage daughter from school in Beaumont Leys last week.
The victim of the Belvoir Street assault – who has asked not to be named but has released a photograph which shows his wounds – said the experience had changed his life.
He said: "I was walking along Belvoir Street when I brushed shoulders with a man. It was that simple.
"I did the natural thing and turned around to apologise but, before I'd even turned fully, he punched me in the face.
"The one blow knocked me unconscious.
"That single punch smashed my left cheekbone, broke my eye socket and dislodged my jaw.
"My consultant has told me that it will take some time, maybe 12 months, for me to make a full recovery.
"Because it's affected my eye I can't work at the moment, so that is having a real effect on my family.
"I've always been a strong person but it's amazing how this has affected me."
His wife said: "I don't think any words can describe how I felt when I got to the hospital and saw what this man had done to my husband.
"I've seen the effect it's had on him.
"He will sit up in bed in the night with a jolt because he is still having nightmares about it. What makes it worse is that the person who did this to him has not been caught."
Police have released a CCTV image of a man they wish to speak to regarding the assault, which happened at 3.25am on Sunday, December 16, near to the junction of Bowling Green Street.
Detective Constable Andy Spence, of the force's serious crime team, said a number of names had been put forward following an appeal in the Mercury at the time.
Det Con Spence said: "He (the victim) has shown real bravery in coming forward and making this personal appeal and I hope that people with information who haven't come forward before will show the same courage and get in touch."
The suspect is white, about 5ft 10in and in his mid-20s to mid-30s.
He has short, dark, spiky hair and was wearing a long-sleeved dark top, jeans and white trainers.
In the second attack, victim Ian Carr was attacked by two thugs as he collected his daughter from Beaumont Leys school, in Anstey Lane, Leicester, last Thursday.
The 48-year-old believes the men, who are thought to be in their early or mid-20s, were friends of a group he had had a run-in with a few minutes earlier.
He said he had whistled at his dog, but a group of three young women and a man walking past accused him of whistling at them.
"I told them I was calling my dog and carried on walking. I thought no more of it, but as I walked away I looked back and I could see they were staring at me.
"I met my daughter outside school a few minutes later and then someone came around from the side of me and hit me in the head. It was totally out-of-the-blue."
Mr Carr said a woman who witnessed the attack called the police and had told him she had feared for his life.
"I just think they're scumbags," he said. "They attacked me for no reason outside the school at 4pm.
"I was bleeding heavily and one of them said to my daughter 'look at your dad now' and then threw a can of beer over her."
Mr Carr went to hospital, where he had an X-ray of his eye.
Information about the attack on Mr Carr can be passed to Pc Jayne Dolby, while information to help trace the Belvoir Street attacker can be passed to Det Con Spence.
Both officers can be contacted on 101 or via Crimestoppers, which is anonymous, on 0800 555 111.
