A born-again Christian battered with an iron bar for his mobile phone said God gave him the strength to fight off his attacker.

Sales assistant Greg Bethune, 18, from Lancing, was hit repeatedly on the head and needed 20 stitches after the assault on Saturday but says he forgives the robber.

The devout churchgoer was back in the congregation at the Lancing Tabernacle, North Street, less than 24 hours after the attack.

He said: "I know God was looking out for me. He gave me the strength to fight back."

Greg, who works at the Sussex Drug Store, in North Street, Lancing, had been walking in nearby First Avenue at 9.20pm when he was approached from behind.

He said: "I turned round thinking it was going to be a friend and the next thing I knew I was getting this smash on the side of my head.

"I fell to the floor and went into a foetal position. He kept on hitting me and asked me for my money.

"I kept trying to get up because he was probably aiming to knock me out. After the fourth hit I thought, 'I'm not going to get out of this', so I remember just praying.

"I don't know where I got it from but I just grabbed the pole and started kicking him.

"He broke it free and hit me again and this time I felt blood rushing down my face. Then he started walking off."

Greg ran towards the nearby Sussex Potter pub, where he collapsed. Staff members bandaged his head and called an ambulance.

Nurses at Worthing Hospital said he would be permanently scarred.

The offender was described as white, in his late teens, about 5ft 11in and had short blond hair in a crop.

Anyone with information should call 0845 6070999.