Murder investigation launched after street attack

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A MURDER investigation has been launched after a man died following a street attack in the early hours of this morning (Sunday).

The 50-year-old, who has been named locally as Nigel Shakespear, fell to the ground and hit his head in Sillins Avenue, Lakeside, after being punched. It is believed he got into an argument with a group of people shortly before 12.30am.

He had been to the Kings Arms pub with a woman, believed to be his wife, and they were walking home.

After the attack, he was taken by ambulance to the Alexandra Hospital but he was later transferred to the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry because of his head injury. His life support was switched off this afternoon.

Detective inspector Adam Hartwright said: "This was a terrible attack on an innocent man which has led to him losing his life.

"We believe there may have been between four and six people in the group who carried out the assault. This group may have been a mixture of males and females.

“We would appeal to anyone who can shed any light on the circumstances of the attack to get in touch with us as soon as possible. We have a number of inquiries to follow up and the public’s help is vital in making sure we have a full picture of what went on."

Superintendant Kevin Purcell added an incident room had been set up at Redditch Police Station.

"Redditch is a very safe place to live and incidents of this type are very unusual," he added.

"We are sure that local people will know who is involved in this attack and I would ask people, regardless of how insignificant they believe information is, to pass it on to us as it may be significant to the investigation team.”

The coroner will be informed of the man's death and a post mortem is due to take place in the next few days. The scene was cordoned off until late afternoon but has now been reopened.

Anyone with any information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 1111.

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