Two men were the victims of violent assaults in Colchester on Saturday morning, one involving a knife and the other a baseball bat.

The attacks, which are not being treated as related, took place within 45 minutes of each other.

At 2am on a footpath near Leisure World a 34-year-old man was stabbed in the neck, ear and foot and also received defence wounds to his hands.

People in Colchester woke on Saturday morning to find a police cordon around the scene where the victim was attacked by two men who stole his wallet and phone.

He was taken to hospital but has since been released; however police have said he was fortunate not to be more seriously injured. They are treating the incident as a grievous bodily harm.

The man has described the attackers as both white, one aged in his early 40s with glasses, very tall, who had a black scruffy beard, dressed in black with a large knife and the other man was bald, of average height and was wearing a cream or white coat. They ran off and got into a silver estate car.

The stabbing took place just a few hundred metres from the scene where James Attfield, 33, was murdered in March, having been stabbed over 100 times.

Then at 2.45am a property in Tony Webb Close, Highwoods, was the scene of another serious assault involving a baseball bat in which a 28-year-old man received a broken arm and head injuries.

The victim was taken to Colchester General Hospital for treatment and two men, one aged 21 and the other 22, both from Colchester have been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, both remain in police custody.

Any witnesses to either incident who have not contacted police are urged to speak with detectives at Colchester CID on 101.