A STUDENT who stepped in to help an elderly couple being harassed at a York bus stop was savagely beaten by a teenage thug.

Adam Duxbury, 20, suffered a broken nose, and sustained swelling and bruising to his face in the attack - which happened in broad daylight as shocked shoppers and commuters looked on.

York Police said today that inquiries into the incident, which took place in Stonebow, just after 11am on Friday, are ongoing and no one had been arrested.

Good Samaritan Adam, of Main Street, Askham Bryan, was waiting for a friend when he spotted a youth pushing in front of an elderly couple trying to get on to a bus.

He intervened as the aggressive youngster shoved the woman and shouted abuse, swearing in the faces of the frightened pensioners.

Adam told the Evening Press: "I said to him: 'I can't believe you have done that'. Then he punched me, which I wasn't expecting. I did not provoke him."

A vicious assault followed, with Adam punched and hit several times, his head pushed to the ground.

"He has one hell of a punch," he said. "Blood was pouring from my face and I kept swallowing it."

The attacker ran off and staff from the nearby Halifax office called an ambulance and looked after Adam in the pouring rain, assisted by passers-by. The elderly couple disappeared.

"I really want to say thank-you to the people who helped me.

"They all got sopping wet waiting in the rain with me," said Adam, who spent most of Friday in York Hospital receiving treatment for his injuries.

His mother, Joan, said she was sickened by what had happened to her son.

"Adam would help anybody, no matter who they are, but I don't think he will now. I'm just frightened that it's changed him," she said. "I want people to know what is going on out there, in broad daylight."

A York Police spokesman said they were searching for the attacker.

He was described as 17 to 18 years old, clean shaven, with a "healthy" build, light brown cropped hair and a tanned appearance.

He was wearing a white baseball cap, with a blue stripe down each side, a baggy blue-grey top, possibly hooded, and baggy trousers.

Anyone with information should phone York police on 01904 631321.

Updated: 10:17 Monday, November 01, 2004