Man threatened with handgun in Sheffield city centre

At around 7.10pm yesterday, a 21-year-old man was approached from behind by an unknown man and hit in the face.

The incident happened as the victim was walking along Paternoster Row in the city centre. Nothing was taken and the victim received minor injuries.

Five minutes later, a 20-year-old man had been assaulted by an unknown man while walking along nearby Matilda Street.

The victim, who was with a friend at the time, was hit in the face by the man who was believed to have been holding a handgun.

The 20-year-old man lost a tooth as a result of the assault. Again, nothing was taken.

In both cases, the offender is described as in his late 20s, around 5ft 8ins tall, of heavy build, with shaved hair and a round, full face. He was wearing a grey hoodie and dark trousers and spoke with a foreign accent.

Detective Sergeant Graham Stead, the investigating officer, said: “We appreciate that these incidents are distressing and will cause a high level of concern, however they do appear to be isolated incidents.

“We believe that they were carried out by the same offender whose motive for assaulting these young men remains unclear.

“Fortunately nothing was taken from the victims and no-one was seriously injured despite these being nasty and aggressive, unprovoked attacks.

“We would like to reassure the community that we are following a number of positive lines of enquiries, including CCTV, and carrying out additional patrols in the city centre.

“If anyone has any information about either of the assaults please contact 101 quoting incident 974 or 984 of February 18 2016.”