POLICE are investigating after a man racially abused and punched a group of men walking to church.

The victims were walking past a parade of shops in Whitmore Way, on their way back to a Christian assembly event at a local church, at about 12.05am on Saturday, 27 September, when a man started shouting abuse at them.

All three victims, who live locally and are aged between 34 and 54, were then punched by the man. Two later required treatment at Basildon Hospital.

The attacker was said to be of large build, more than 6ft tall, in his late 30s and had cropped dark hair and facial stubble.

He was wearing tight three-quarter length blue jeans and a polo shirt with white and blue horizontal stripes. He was also wearing dark-coloured boat shoes with white soles.

He was with a woman who was aged about 35, 5ft 7in tall, of above average build with shoulder to mid-length dark hair. She was wearing black jeans and a dark jumper.

Investigating officer, DS Richard Burgess, said: "This is a wholly unprovoked attack on three Asian men who were attending their Christian church that evening.

"We would like to reassure the local community that we do not tolerate such behaviour, which fortunately is rare. In all cases we seek to protect victims and adopt a zero tolerance approach in terms of crime detection.”

Anyone with information about the incident should contact DS Burgess or his colleagues at Basildon CID on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.