A 17-YEAR-OLD was stabbed in the head with a knife when walking home in the early hours.

He was in Woodhouse Road, near the junction with Cann Hall Road, Leytonstone, when he passed two youths, aged around 18, near St Margaret's Church.

He crossed the road to distance himself from the youths, but they changed direction to follow him, and asked him what the time was. One of the youths, the chubbier of the two, said to the other: "It's not him, leave him alone."

However the attacker, a slim Asian youth, approximately 6ft 2ins tall, with short, spiky black hair, stabbed the boy in the side of his head with a knife.

The victim thought he had been punched until he went home and his parents saw the deep cut in his head, and gash above his eye. He was taken to Whipps Cross University Hospital and received six stitches in two separate wounds.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the violent attack on November 6. Call 8529 8666 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.