A woman has described her horrifying ordeal at the hands of thugs who punched her repeatedly before stealing toiletries.
The 26-year-old's ordeal began moments after she got into her car in Cobden Street, near Loughborough town centre, at 5.45pm on Tuesday. One of her attackers opened the driver's door, grabbed the victim and started punching her.
His accomplice opened the front passenger door and also began hitting her. The woman managed to sound her car horn with her knee as an alarm.
Her attackers grabbed a carrier bag containing toiletries, two T-shirts and a phone charger before running away.
The victim, who did not want to be named, said: "I feel really scared at this moment.
"I haven't been able to sleep because I keep having visions of what these men did to me.
"One was wearing gloves when he put his hands over my face and I can still remember the musty smell of them.
"It seemed to go on forever. They just kept hitting me.
"I'm not sure why they did this to me. They took a carrier bag which contained nothing of any real value.
"Maybe they thought there was a laptop in there, I really don't know.
"I managed to get my knee on the car horn and that made a noise. One of them tried to push my leg back down but I knew that if I could sound the horn it might scare them away.
"One of them grabbed the bag and hit me maybe four or five times in the face before they ran away. It was all so violent."
Detective Constable Paul Bolstridge, of Loughborough CID, appealed for witnesses.
"This lady was able to sound the horn of her car, which may have drawn attention to the incident," he said.
"She is shaken by what has happened, although, thankfully, not badly hurt.
"We would appeal to anyone who was in the area of Pinfold Gate, School Street or Cobden Street to contact us if they saw two men matching the description of the assailants before, during or after the assault.
"They ran off along Cobden Street and we believe they may have run along Russell Street."
One of the men is black, 5ft 6in, skinny and has short black hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket.
The other is thought to be Eastern European, and is 5ft 6in and skinny. He was wearing a hooded top and a baseball cap.
Contact Det Con Bolstridge by calling 101.
