A VICIOUS robber throttled a man until he passed out.

The thug then fled with the victim’s mobile phone and cash.

The 26-year-old victim was walking along Queensgate, Huddersfield, when a man asked to see his phone.

The thief walked off with the phone and the victim followed to try and get it back.

As they reached Page Street, which leads down to the Drill Hall, the victim, who is from Huddersfield, was throttled and left unconscious on the ground for about a hour.

He was left with severe bruising, a torn lip, a cut ear which required stitches, and cuts to his face.

Det Con Russ Conlon said: “He was subjected to quite a nasty assault and received some awful injuries to his face.

“The victim believes he was unconscious for at least an hour before he came round and managed to get some assistance.

“At that time of night in that particular area we believe there would be a lot of students who may have seen him and thought he was just asleep.

“We want to hear from anyone who may have seen this incident or the man to get in touch.”

Police are looking for a light-skinned Afro-Caribbean man who is said to be about 5ft 10in tall and of medium build.

He has short brown hair which had blond highlights at the front.

He was wearing a sports top and jeans.

He made off with a Sony Ericsson Walkman-style phone and some cash.

The incident happened on Thursday last week, some time between 11.30pm and 12.30pm.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Pc Shaun Topham on 0845 6060606.

Alternatively, people can ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.