The man, who had been drinking and was walking with his partner, was set upon in Archers Road, Southampton on Sunday.

They had passed five youths sitting on a bench who then began shouting homophobic comments, before following them into Archers Road, police said.

The victim's partner tried to help him. His wallet was also stolen.

Det Con Gurjeet Kalirai, of Hampshire Police, said: "We take all assaults and robberies seriously including those with a homophobic motive and we're very keen to find the youths involved in this attack and would appeal for any witnesses to come forward."

The main attacker was a white man with short blond hair, aged about 20 and about 5ft 10in tall and of medium build.

The second and third male youths were aged around 18, about 5ft 6in tall and had dark hair.

Two blonde teenage girls were among the group but were not involved in the assault.