Gareth Jones was attacked whilst he waited for his train

Gareth Jones, 41, from Colwyn Bay suffered a fractured skull when he was hit over the head with a rock after he asked the group, aged 15-18, to stop vandalising Prestatyn railway station.

The office manager was quietly waiting for a train at 2325 BST on Friday after a night out with colleagues.

They left me lying down bleeding...for dead Gareth Jones

"I'm sat on the platform by myself, I heard some noises from out of the darkness and all of a sudden there were seven or eight of them," he said.

"They sat on a bench next to me, they were shouting, spitting and swearing.

"Out of the blue one of them threw a timetable onto the railway line."

Mr Jones, who is originally from Oxford, asked them to pick it up and a row ensued.

"One of them kept putting their hand in my face," he said.

"They were all surrounding my bench and then 'whack', I'm on my knees with blood coming down my head...I don't know if they hit me once or twice.

"I must've been unconscious, one minute they're there and then they're 100 yards away, they left me lying down bleeding...for dead."

He suffered a fractured skull and needed 22 stitches in his head. He also has a suspected broken nose.

He reached a takeaway and managed to get help from some men who called the police and an ambulance.

Mr Jones was released from Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan, on Sunday.

His wife, Sarah, who works as a psychologist at a brain injury unit, has since told her husband she feared he would need brain surgery.

"She knew there was a problem and feared I could end up being one of her clients," he said.

Although currently on medication, Mr Jones said he wants to carry on with his life as soon as possible.

Scenes of crimes officers have been to the station and have gathered a number of items as evidence.