A mother fears her teenage son could have been beaten to death in broad daylight if two men had not come to his rescue.

Jordan Coates, 19, of Hill Top Lane, Allerton, was walking along Westgate, in Bradford city centre when he was surrounded by a group of Asian men.

He was brought to the ground and was being kicked when two men, who had come out of a pub for a cigarette, saw what was happening and intervened, causing the attackers to flee.

An ambulance was called and the injured teenager, who remembers nothing of the attack, was taken to Accident & Emergency at Bradford Royal Infirmary with concussion and bruises to his face, back and legs.

His mother, Margaret Coates, said: “He goes to watch Bradford City every week and had left his dad to come home for his tea because he was working on the Sunday at the Co-op in Allerton.

“He had walked up to the bus stop on Westgate when a gang of Asian lads surrounded him, knocked him to the floor and attacked him.

“He was left with heavy concussion and he went for nine hours afterwards without knowing anything. He had a brain scan and was quite disorientated for four days. Thank goodness for the smoking ban because two lads walked out of the Star for a cigarette, looked up and saw a lad on the floor with 12 or 13 lads kicking him.

“They ran up to help, which was very brave of them considering they were so outnumbered, and the other lads then jumped into three cars and drove off laughing. If those lads hadn’t helped out, I truly believe I would have had a dead son or a disabled one because they were just stamping on him.”

Mr Coates said: “The last thing I remember was walking up the road on my way home. I feel pretty lucky with the way it has turned out because it could have been much worse. I just hope they get caught.”

Mrs Coates claimed the police had not taken it seriously and had only released an appeal with CCTV images more than a fortnight after the incident, which happened at about 6pm on Saturday, September 26.

Mrs Coates said: “I get the impression that the police, if they could, would just like to forget about it because it’s a headache for them.”

But a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “We are taking it very seriously, as we do any assault. Our investigation is ongoing and, as part of that, we have released the pictures of a group of men we would like to speak to in connection with the incident.”

The police spokesman would not comment on whether or not the attack was being treated as racially-motivated.

Witnesses should call PC Leanne O’Connor at Bradford South Police on 0845 6060606, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.