A music teacher from Finchley was beaten and kicked in an unprovoked attack by a gang of 40 schoolchildren last week.

The man, who does not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said the group first targeted his wife, a former model, while she was shopping in North Finchley.

Describing the moment when he was mobbed, he says the experience has left him wanting revenge.

He said: "I come from the worst estate in the country in North Shields near Newcastle, and nothing like this has ever happened to me.

"I want to get my revenge on the little b*****ds. I'm petrified."

The guitar teacher said the assault took place on Wednesday, sometime between 4.30pm and 6pm.

"My wife went to buy something at the end of the road and they starting jeering at her. She gets a lot of attention - it's normally a builder thing - but this time it was kids and it went wrong. She panicked and they chased her in to a pound shop in High Road and started smashing it up for no reason.

"The man from the shop called me as my wife doesn't have a phone and by that point she'd run in to the New Star Chinese restaurant next door."

Joining his wife, the man said he beckoned her out of the restaurant but found the teen gang waiting for them outside.

"There were about 40 of them, and then a load more came running in from the bus stop," he said.

"They stopped me in the middle of the road and started punching me in the back and kicking me.

"They were all laughing at me as they kicked me. I felt like I was in a fox hunt."

He struggled to the central reservation, next to the Tally Ho pub, with the gang still attacking him.

"I caught my finger on the pedestrian crossing, and almost broke it."

He said he managed to untangle himself from the barrage of fists and ran towards a nearby betting shop where the owners called the police.

"I was there for 50 minutes before the police turned up. They would not escort us home. They went to talk to one of the girls who hit me, but by then most of the lads had walked off."

The couple left the safety of the betting shop and were once again chased before they managed to run in to O'Neill's pub in High Road, from where they called a taxi.

He said: "I can't walk down the road. I can't play guitar anymore owing to the injured finger. I'm losing money, have bills to pay, and it's nearly Christmas. I hate them."

A Barnet police spokeswoman said anyone who witnessed this event should call 020 8200 1212."