A devoted father was hit on the head with a cricket bat and died after he went to look for his children's stolen bikes, his partner has said.
Derek Whyteside, 42, was attacked in the street less than mile from his home in Telford, Shropshire at 4.30pm on Monday afternoon.
He was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull and placed in an induced coma but died hours later of horrific head injuries.
His devastated partner Michelle has now claimed the father was hit around the head with cricket bat and stamped on before being left unconscious.
Writing on social media, she said: 'Sum one thought it wud b ok to wrap a cricket bat round his head. While he's dying on the floor. He's been jumped on and punched in the face.'
She told friends 'her world came crashing down around her' when she was told he had died.
She wrote online: 'Lost my love my world at 3.20 this morning. U are my everything no one cud eva replace wot we have. Fly high. Sleep tight Derek Whyteside.'
In a tribute, she added: 'He had a heart of gold, he did everything for me and my children.'
On the day her partner died, Michelle had posted an appeal online saying the family's mountain bikes had been stolen from their home.
It is thought Mr Whyteside had gone looking for the bikes before he was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood a mile away in Withywood Drive.
A neighbour said: 'Derek was a wonderful dad, completely devoted to his family. It's absolutely horrifying to think he was killed. No one deserves to be left to die in the street.
'Michelle and the kids are in absolute bits. It's an absolute nightmare and everyone round here is appalled and very angry about what has happened.'
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