Op for teen mugged on countryside path

The 17-year-old needs an operation on his left shoulder, which was dislocated when he tried to hang on to a bag as it was wrenched away.

He hopes to be released from Doncaster Royal Infirmary by the weekend but is said to be in discomfort. He also suffered a cut lip after the robber hit him in the face with a branch.

The youngster was attacked as he walked along a path that runs alongside the A1, between Hampole Balk Lane, Skellow and Woodlands, known locally as the Ash path. The victim was walking towards Skellow from Woodlands, carrying a designer clothing bag which contained articles of his own clothing.

As he neared a wooded area he was approached from behind by a man who hit him in the face with a 2ft length of branch.

The attacker grabbed at the bag and pulled it from the victim’s grip, dislocating it during the course of the struggle.The offender ran off with the bag in the direction of Woodlands but police later recovered it without anything stolen.

“It looks as though he had emptied the bag expecting to find new designer clothing but when he realised it wasn’t he just left it,” said DC Richard Clarke, of Doncaster CID. “It seems to have been a speculative robbery and the description is of a person who was just leaving or heading to work.

“It’s the sort of remote track where it is unusual to see anyone so your attention would immediately be drawn to that person.”

The offender is white, aged 18-22, 6ft, medium build, with mousy brown hair closely shaved at the back and sides, slightly longer on top with gel applied to the front. He was clean shaven with a freckly complexion.