A FISHERMAN is scarred for life after being smashed in the face with a plank then punched by a gang of teenagers while he lay writhing in agony.

Duct fitter Roy Harper, 30, was left needing 30 stitches for a gaping wound across one side of his face after the vicious attack.

It happened last Friday at Five Locks, on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, Pontnewydd, Cwmbran.

He had just said goodbye to his wife, Julie, 30, and their daughter, Holly, three, at their home in Clark Avenue, Pontnewydd, and set off for an evening of fishing with a friend at the Five Locks marina.

He said: "I was just putting my fishing gear down on the path. My mate was going to catch me up because he was waiting for his Chinese meal.

"I decided to go on the canal side so I could sit on a bench. I'd just got up there and I heard a big bunch of kids coming toward me from the right-hand side.

"There were about 15 of them, about nine boys and six girls, aged between 14 and 16.

"One boy said, 'Fishing, are you?' and I said I'd just started. Another one said he was going to push me in, and I said, 'If you want to, you try it'.

"Then they started with the verbal abuse and I said they could stop that.

Then suddenly there was a whack - one of them had swung a piece of timber, a four-by-four or something, straight into my face.

"I didn't pass out. I was on the floor and when I opened my eyes there was just a big pool of blood.

"I struggled to get up and got two punches to the back of the neck, and then next time I looked up they'd all gone.

"I've got in the region of 30 stitches - there are three layers of them. I'm going to be scarred for life.

"I go up there regularly and there's never been any trouble in the past. It was the wrong place at the wrong time."

Mr Harper's injuries have distressed his young daughter. He said: "My daughter, Holly, was OK at first, but she got all upset the first time she had to leave my side. She was hysterical."

Police Constable Darrell Dewar, based in Cwmbran, said: "This was a totally unprovoked attack on an innocent member of the public, and I would appeal for any witnesses to get in touch with me on 01633 642054."