A 12-year-old girl was punched and kicked by a sick bully who proudly laughed: “I don’t care if she’s crying.”

Disturbing footage shot in a The Broadway, Loughton shows a girl in a white top, who is believed to be 14, tormenting a child two years younger than her.

The vile teenager starts by punching the girl’s face while belligerently saying: “Okay that didn’t hurt, neither did that, neither did that.”

She then grabs the girl, who was wearing a blue t-shirt, by the neck and traps her in a lock before thrusting her to the ground.

Terrified, the girl screams in fear as her attacker lets out a high-pitched laugh.

A boy behind the camera can then be heard saying “keep punching” as the victim tries to cover her face from the attacker’s fists.

She only stops punching when another person tells her to “let her get up.”

But the girl is too distraught to stand up, prompting a tirade of mockery from the young boys behind the camera.

“She’s hit you about five times, get up,” one says.

When one points out that she’s crying, the original attacker says: “I don’t f****** care if she’s crying”, followed by more laughing.

The footage was shot last Tuesday, June 13.

The video of the attack has been circulating on social media and has been shared thousands of times.

Several pages have posted the footage with some being viewed more than 300,000 times, but others have been removed by Facebook.

The victim’s sister posted about how disgusting and angry she was about what had happened.

She said: “The video that has been posted of my little sister being punched and slammed to the floor, broke my heart and I have never been so upset for her.”

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Essex Police is aware of a video appearing to show an assault in Loughton.

“Officers were called to The Broadway in Loughton on Tuesday, June 13.

“A teenage girl reported being assaulted by another girl. The investigation is ongoing.”

Anyone with any information should contact Essex Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.