A PENSIONER was left unconscious after he tried to help four teenage girls who appeared to be in danger. The girls knocked at the door of the 87-year-old's bungalow in Faversham Road, Seasalter, near Whitstable, and when he opened it they pleaded for help.

One was crying and the former naval officer assumed they were in some kind of danger. He invited the girls in and allowed one of them to make a telephone call. They said their lift had not arrived and they needed somewhere to wait.

After a while they started to wander off around the bungalow and ignored the pensioner when he asked them to stay in one room. He threatened to call the police but as he picked up the phone one of the girls seized a heavy crystal fruit bowl and hit him over the head with it.

They then fled, leaving him unconscious with a cut on his head. His disabled wife was in bed at the time of the attack and was unable to come to her husband's aid.

The victim, who asked not to be named, needed hospital treatment but was not seriously hurt and nothing was stolen. He said: "I was very shaken up after the attack. I was very lucky not to be badly hurt. When the police scientist saw the size of the fruit bowl he told me it could easily have been a murder inquiry. I was just lucky I had a very thick skull."

He said he was not at all suspicious when the girls knocked on his door and had no idea what they would do. But since the attack he has vowed not to open the door to strangers again and plans to talk to them through the glass in future.

The girls are described as white and aged between 14 and 17 and between five feet and five feet four inches tall. One is described as stocky with blonde shoulder length hair. She was wearing a black three-quarter length coat.

Another is described as slight with curly dark brown collar length hair and a nose stud. She and the other two girls wore flared trousers.

DC Sarah Gupwell said: "This was a vicious and senseless attack on an elderly man who did nothing other than offer these girls help. It is despicable to think that girls could be capable of committing such a violent act and they are lucky not to be facing murder charges."

She asked anyone who was in Seasalter last Friday morning and who saw this group of girls or has any information about their identity or whereabouts to call Canterbury CID on 01227 817154.