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Pensioner left fighting for life: New video of key suspect as second violent attack is revealed

Detectives hunting a man who left a widower aged 69 with car crash-like injuries in West Bromwich today released these images of a key suspect, as it emerged they were linking the attack to the violent robbery of a woman an hour later.

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The first victim, from Tipton, was found unconscious and was critically ill in hospital for several days after the assault, near Greets Green social club on Whitehall Road.

It has now been revealed that a woman aged 61 was punched twice on the face and kicked to the ground around an hour later by a man who snatched her handbag just a few hundred metres away.

He is then believed to have boarded a number 74 bus after the attack, which happened on Great Bridge Street.

The suspect was caught on camera speaking to the bus driver for a few seconds, wearing a blue and white striped t-shirt with 'Fastest' in red lettering on the chest.

Detectives suspect he may be behind both attacks, which happened on November 7 at 5.15am and 6.10-6.30am respectively.

Speaking about the attack on the man at the time, Det Sgt Andy Robinson said: "The man's injuries were so severe that the ambulance service initially believed that he had been hit by a car.

"Our inquiries quickly found that he had in fact been assaulted."

The victim was today said to be recovering but was still traumatised.

Today Det Sgt Leighton Shingles, from Force CID, said: "We've spent the last few weeks following up a number of leads and trawling through many hours of CCTV footage.

"Our enquiries have now thrown up these very clear images of the key suspect who we need to trace as soon as possible.

"Someone will know who this person is and I would urge them to either make contact with me and my team or call Crimestoppers anonymously."

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