A MAN was slashed with a craft knife during a violent robbery in a block of flats in Southampton.

The 30-year-old was ordered to hand over his phone before being knifed in the arm by one of the two attackers and slapped around the head by the second.

Police say the victim, from Fareham, was typing on his Blackberry phone while walking down a staircase in the block of flats in Meggeson Avenue.

He first noticed a man walking behind him before a second man confronted him at the bottom of the stairs with a craft knife.

Detective Constable Esra Phillipson-Masters said: “We need to hear from members of the public who witnessed the robbery or who have seen the suspects at the location.

“This was a nasty attack on a man who was going about his daily business when he was wounded and robbed of his phone.”

The first suspect is white, 5ft 10in, in his late twenties and speaks with a local accent. He was wearing a grey hoodie and black trousers.

The second suspect is white, 6ft, overweight and aged between his late twenties to early thirties.

Witnesses to the robbery, shortly after noon on June 3, should contact DC Phillipson-Masters at Bitterne CID on 101.