A FEMALE student in Winchester has spoken about a vicious mugging yards from her home.

The 22-year-old King Alfred's College student was knocked out and suffered a fractured wrist, cuts and bruises when she was set upon by a man who snatched her purse.

The attack happened on the West Downs campus off Romsey Road at 2.20am last Thursday.

A man asked her for the time and when she went to answer, he hit her in the face and punched her in the stomach. She fractured her wrist as she fell, hit her head on the ground and blacked out. The man grabbed her empty wallet and ran away.

Now the first-year drama student has spoken of her fear at going out on her own. Speaking to the Daily Echo she said: "It all happened very quickly.

"I'm very surprised, it had seemed a safe area. I feel disgusted. He knew there would be a lot of young people, quite vulnerable.

"It has made me feel sick with the shock.

"People should be aware not to walk around on their own. They should make sure they are safe. My friends won't let me go out on my own. I don't want to walk around in the dark on my own," said the student, who asked not to be named.

The offender was white, aged 40-45, about 5ft 9in, with short, scraggy dark brown hair, wearing a short all-weather jacket and dark jeans. An immediate search of the area by police dog units failed to find the attacker.

Det Con Richard Skillern, of Winchester CID, said: "The violence is very concerning. Attacks like this are rare and we are treating the incident very seriously."

The mugging happened only a few hundred yards from a flashing incident the previous day when a man exposed himself to a 31-year-old woman who was walking along St James Lane, near St James Terrace.

She had just been to buy a newspaper and was walking to work away from the city. He did not say anything to the woman or try to grab her.

The flasher is described as a white male, aged 20-23, with short blond hair, dressed in a T-shirt, trousers and a navy-blue long-sleeved fleece.