This is George Gibb, an 85-year-old war veteran who was beaten and left in a pool of blood for an old briefcase.

The pensioner was walking home after doing voluntary work for the Royal British Legion when he was knocked out and robbed.

Mr Gibb, whose wife died in February and whose ashes he had scattered just hours earlier, was left lying in an alleyway just yards from his home.

Last night, police condemned the “brutal” thief responsible for the attack as they launched a hunt for the missing briefcase in the hope it could lead them to the offender.

Mr Gibb was attacked as he walked between Legion Way and West Bracklesham Drive in Bracklesham, near Chichester.

He had been carrying a plastic bag with a bottle of rum in it and a tattered black briefcase he had owned for more than two decades.

The rum was found at the scene but the briefcase had been taken, even though it contained no valuables, just Royal British Legion documents.

He was struck from behind and remembers little about the incident, which happened shortly after 10pm on Wednesday, August 12.

When Mr Gibb came round he crawled to the house of a neighbour who dialled 999.

Mr Gibb, who works on the committee of his local Royal British Legion branch and fought in the navy during the Second World War, spent three days in St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester, being treated for severe cuts and bruises.

His friend Mike Hayes said the veteran, who fought in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, had scattered his late wife's ashes earlier in the day as she passed away around five months' ago.

He said: "It is just despicable that someone could do this to a defenceless man.

"His sister has just died so he's also trying to sort out her funeral at the moment."

Mr Hayes added that he believed Mr Gibb was now recuperating at a friend's house.

Detective Constable Mark Burgess, of Chichester CID, said: “It's just so sad that something like this can happen to a war veteran.

It was a brutal attack and there was a lot of blood left at the scene which has been examined.

They weren’t after the alcohol, they took the briefcase.

“It is black, about 20 years old and tattered with no handle.

“The retrieval of the briefcase will be a great help as is it might be possible to do DNA tests on it.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact DC Burgess on 0845 6070999 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.