A young Crawley man is in an induced coma after a town centre fight in the early hours of this morning (Saturday, October 21), in which a baseball bat and a metal bar are believed to have been used.

The 22-year-old victim had been in a car when he was involved in an altercation with groups of people in another two cars in Crawley at around 3am.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "After this initial verbal altercation it's believed all three cars, two Suzukis and a silver BMW, drove into the High Street where several people got out of the cars and were involved in a fight outside Lloyds Barbers."

Detective Inspector Wendy Burton added: "We believe the fight involved possibly a baseball bat and metal bar, but we are keen to speak to anyone else who saw what happened who can help us piece together the events.

"It is unclear at this stage how the victim came to be unconscious but he is in an extremely serious and life-threatening condition in hospital in London and has been placed into an induced coma.

"We believe all those involved are known to each other and this is not a random attack.

"We would urge anyone with information to come forward and help us."

Anyone with information can contact police online or call 101 quoting Operation Ideford.