Man repeatedly punched in the head during unprovoked homophobic attack in London

Police say a man was repeatedly punched in the head during a homophobic attack outside Charing Cross train station in central London.

Detectives have appealed for witnesses to come forward after the attack left the man with head injuries.

Police say the victim, aged in his 50s, had been standing at a bus stop on The Strand at around 9.30pm on Saturday, 18 November when he was approached by two men.

The pair began shouting homophobic abuse at the man before punching him several times. The suspects then ran in the direction of Trafalgar Square.

The victim was not hospitalised but sustained head injuries, police said.

The two suspects are both described as white males, aged in their 20s, and wearing dark jackets.

There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.

It comes after police said another alleged homophobic attack in London saw a 19-year-old man strangled and forced to apologise for being gay while on a London Tube train.

Two 16-year-old boys have since been arrested in connection with the incident, which allegedly happened on a Jubilee Line train between West Ham and North Greenwich on 21 October.

The number of attacks on lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the UK has risen by nearly 80% in just five years, according to data released in September by the LGBT charity Stonewall.

The findings, based on YouGov polling of 5,000 LGBT people, also found one in five LGBT people had experienced a hate crime or incident due to their sexual orientation or gender identity in the 12 months to September.

Witnesses or anyone with information about the incident outside Charing Cross station are asked to contact Westminster Community Safety Unit via 101 or Tweet @MetCC.

Alternatively contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously via 0800 555 111 or crimstoppers-uk.org.