A MAN has spoken of his terror as armed burglars attacked him with a baseball bat.

The 27-year-old was left with a wound which needed four stitches when he was hit across the head during the raid on his home, in York Road, Southend.

The man, who asked not to be identified, said three robbers had burst in armed with the bat and a clawhammer and threatened him.

He had been in the bedsit with his housemate and two friends at the time.

He said: “Three guys walked in the house. They had weapons. One walked straight to the kitchen, opened the drawers, got the knives and ordered everyone to sit down in the house. “I asked them ‘what’s the problem? We don’t know who you are.” They knew my name, but I don’t know them.”

After asking them what they wanted, the victim said he was struck with the bat.

Reliving his ordeal, he said: “Before I could finish what I was saying, they hit me with a baseball bat. From there I was struggling to breathe.

“It was bleeding hard. Blood went everywhere in the house.

“I asked the guy if I could wash my face and I walked to the kitchen and ran to the neighbours.”

He said he had managed to escape via the kitchen window and raise the alarm. He was taken to hospital, where he had four stitches and two staples to his wound.

The man said he has two children in London, but had been staying with a friend in Southend so he could work as a labourer.

He said: “I’m not allowed to work for ten days the doctor said, but I have to work.

“I feel like I’m in danger. I feel like people are about to take my life.”

The man’s friends were not hurt, but items were stolen from them.

The case is being investigated by Det Con Luke Dangerfield, of Southend police, who said some electrical items and a laptop had been reported stolen.

He wants to hear from anyone who saw anything suspicious at about 8.45pm to 9.05pm on Wednesday, September 19.

The attackers were two black men and one white man in their twenties. The white man was slim and about 5ft 4ins tall.

One of the others was 6ft tall and wearing a baseball cap, while the other was 5ft 11ins tall.

Det Sgt Dave Browning, who oversees Southend’s Target Offen-der Team, said it would investigate whether this was linked to an aggravated burglary in Westcliff .

The Echo reported how a mother had been at home in Fairfax Drive with her two young children, on Saturday when three men armed with knives burst in. In that case all three suspects were black. Anyone with information should call Southend police on 101.