This is the terrifying moment a schoolgirl desperately tried to escape a gang of violent thugs armed with baseball bats but she was later beaten and left with serious injuries.

A 15-year-old girl jumps over a garden wall before using it as shelter from the armed men in shocking CCTV footage, released by Sandwell Police.

Eight hooded men - some carrying baseball bats -appear to be hunting for her as she remains hidden behind the wall in Tipton, West Midlands.

When the gang seem to have disappeared, she fearfully sneaks away from her hiding spot.

However, the teen was later beaten and left with serious injuries.

She was taken to hospital for treatment after the terrifying attack at around 9.30pm on February 12.

Police are now appealing for information into the attack.

The offenders are believed to be in their twenties and local to the Tipton area.

'Work has been on-going to trace the offenders who are reportedly in their 20s' Sandwell Police said

'Officers believe it is likely they live in the Tipton area and were driving a silver colour VW Golf on the day of the attack.

'At the time a lot of local people tweeted and shared information about the attack on social media.

Locals in the area admitted they were extremely concerned about the attack.

Mother of one Sarah Hamer, 22, said: 'It is frightening, especially when you've got young kids.

'You don't like to think about these sorts of people roaming round your neighbourhood and causing havoc in the middle of the night.

'I didn't see what happened, but I did hear some shouting from the street last night at around the time of the attack, so maybe it's related.

'I've not known any gangs to be hanging around here, so it may be that they've travelled down from elsewhere.

'It is a bad area - there's a lot of drugs lurking around, and often there'll be discarded needles or cans lying around in the grass outside the flats.

The school girl runs towards the garden, away from the group of yobs

She dashes over the wall in the hope the baseball wielding thugs won't see her

She lies down hiding from the gang in a garden in Tipton

'I've been here for a year or so now, and there have been police cars coming almost every week.'

Keane Tyler, 27, said: 'I didn't see the whole thing, but I heard some people running down the street last night, so maybe it was the same incident.

'I thought nothing of it at the time, as people tend to hang out in groups and make a load of noise.

'It's not clear what's happened, as I don't know the blokes or the girl. Obviously there was some beef between them - something must have been said or done to start it all off.

'I hope that she is alright.;

Mother-of-two Sanika Davis, 23, said: 'From the footage, it looks like the guys were just up for a fight.

'I often see people lurking around here, doing drugs of whatever, and they look like they're up for trouble.

'Obviously they've spurred each other on, and it's turned into a situation where they're chasing a teenage girl round the streets trying to hurt her.

'It's pathetic. There's a massive group of them, and only one of her.

'She's clearly a scared young girl, so it's cowardly on their part to pick on her like that, especially as she's a girl.

'To be honest, I suspect that she was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and happened to cross them when they were in the mood to stir up a fuss.

'That's often how things tend to start round here.'

One 29-year-old woman, who did not wish to be named, said: 'I saw a group of girls walking down the street together at around 9pm yesterday, so it could be that one of them is the victim.

'That's the problem once you start to get lighter evenings, people wonder about more in the night time and crime starts to rise.

'It's been a problem round here for years, it's a very frightening area to live.

'The footage isn't nice, obviously, but I'm not surprised by it at all. There are people like that living round here, that will do things like that to get attention or to make themselves feel big.

'The police are often round here, and they were again last night [to deal with the incident].'

A 27-year-old man, who saw the gang out the window of his flat, said: 'They were strutting down the street, with at least one of them carrying a baseball bat.I assumed that it was just there to make them look tough.

'I'm pretty sure one of them was playing music from their phones too.

'There were probably trying to look big and hard, but there's nothing hard about what they did.'

West Midlands police are seeking the public's help to find the attackers.

He said: 'We're appealing for anyone with information or who witnessed what happened to get in touch with police on 101. To remain anonymous please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.'