A father has praised his wife's bravery after a gang of thugs forced their way into their shop and assaulted the couple in front of their three-year-old daughter.

Shopkeeper Andrei Ionescu was attacked after asking a group of men to leave the front of his shop, the Romanian grocery store, Magazin Romanesc in Leyton High Road on May 24.

Instead of calling the police his wife came to his aid fearing her husband, who suffered a heart attack last month, would collapse again.

In CCTV footage released by Scotland Yard on Thursday, the attacker is seen forcing his way into the shop and begins to beat the shop owner. 

Mr Ionescu was taken to hospital as a precaution because of his heart condition and his 36-year-old wife, Andreea Constanescu, suffered minor injuries.

Mr Ionescu, who has run the shop since 2009, describes seeing a dozen men hanging about outside the shop.

CCTV footage shows the thug's attack on Mr Ionescu and his wife.

“When I opened the door to leave one of them collapsed into the store", he said.

“They started to swear at me, shouting  ‘f**k off’ at me. I was nice, I told them to move out of the way as my family were about to leave.

“I said I would have to call the police if they didn’t go.

“As soon as I mentioned the police they switched violently and came for me.

“I shouted to my wife to call 999 but she came straight over to protect me instead.

“She is only 50 kilograms but she still took them on.

"I had a heart attack a month ago and she was afraid that the violence would cause my heart rate to become dangerous.

“They were animals, it wasn’t a fair fight. They outnumbered me then hit my wife all in front of my three-year old daughter.”

“I was just trying to push them out of the store so I could calm my little girl down, but when I went over to her I had blood all over my face.

“She was so scared and she was crying. She still gets nervous when she sees a police car or we raise our voices.”

“I am still waiting for them to come back. I don’t know whether they were in trouble with the police before but they are in trouble now.”

Police described the first attacker as a bald white man of large build and 5ft 7ins.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts.

The second attacker is described as a 5ft 9ins white man of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a dark coloured t-shirt.

Anyone with information about the incident should call 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org quoting the reference number 4910254/15