EIGHT men have been arrested on suspicion of assault and violent disorder after a football fan was left seriously injured.

The men, from Southend, Leigh, Westcliff, Rochford, Wickford and Lewisham, were arrested by officers this morning following the assault on East Street, Southend, on March 21.

Simon Dobbin, 42, was assaulted along with a small group of fellow Cambridge United supporters by a group of men who came out of the nearby Railway Tavern.

Mr Dobbin, from Mildenhall in Suffolk, suffered a head injury and was knocked unconscious in the incident, which happened at about 7.15pm.

He was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and was placed in a medically induced coma. He is now conscious but remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.

This morning’s arrests included a 23-year-old man from Rochford, a 23-year-old man from Lewisham, a 27-year-old man and a 30-year-old man from Westcliff, a 19-year-old man from Basildon, a 29-year-old man from Leigh, a 19-year-old man from Wickford and a 22-year-old man from Southend. They currently all remain in custody.

A further man, a 39-year-old from Southend, was arrested on Thursday June 25, and questioned before being released on bail.