A student was stabbed in the back and slashed across the face by a knife-wielding gang.

Five men knocked him off his bike then kicked and punched him as he lay in the road.

He was dragged semi-conscious to his feet and held by two men while a third, wearing white make-up and dressed in black, held a knife to his face.

The 19-year-old student, Edouard, was wounded as the blade was pressed into his upper lip and drawn down to the tip of his chin leaving a six inch cut.

Edouard, who works as a kitchen assistant at Bellerby's language school in Cromwell Road, Hove, also needed eight stitches in a stab wound on his back.

The injuries will take months to heal properly and will leave scars. Edouard said the incident was "terrifying" and had made him wary of strangers.

The unprovoked attack happened just before midnight after he returned to his Portland Road, Hove, home from a trip to the cinema at Brighton Marina.

He had ridden home but realised he had lost the rear light from his bike and set off to retrace his route.

He said: "I found it in Wish Road and was starting to ride back home when I saw a group of four or five men walking in the middle of the road. I tried to ride around them, but they knocked me off my bike and started punching and kicking me. Then they held me up and one of them drew a knife down my face. I was terrified.

"I was only half conscious, but I can remember his face. He had white make-up and black mascara on.

"He looked like what you call a Goth, people who dress in black. In France we call them Satanists."

Edouard, originally from Aix-en-Provence, said he felt what he thought was a second knife at his throat and later discovered a scratch mark there.

At that point he saw a chance to escape and kicked the man in front of him between the legs. As he struggled free, he felt a blow to his back and realised he had been stabbed.

He said: "I ran away as fast as I could through Wish Park with them chasing me. I jumped over a wall and hid in someone's garden. I didn't dare move in case they found me.

"When I was convinced they were gone, I went down to the seafront to find help. I stopped a car and the driver took me to hospital in Brighton straight away."

Detective Sergeant Phil Herring, of Hove police, said: "We would like to hear from anyone who saw or heard these men in the Wish Road area or witnessed the attack.

"We would also like to hear from the car driver who stopped in Kingsway and took the victim to hospital."

Anyone with information should call DS Herring on 0845 6070999.