Gardai hunt a lone mugger after a woman was beaten while walking her dog along one of Ireland’s most historic sites.

The brutal attacker jumped on the woman from behind, pulled her hair, pushed her and beat her as she took an early morning walk along the Battle of the Boyne promenade in the outside Drogheda in County Louth.

The walk, which stretches for a few miles from Drogheda to Oldbridge House, is a popular route for walkers and joggers every day.

Read more:Attacker still at large after woman assaulted on morning walk in Drogheda as gardai investigate

The woman, who is in her 40s, is severely traumatized by the incident and suffered several blows to her body after being punched and kicked.

But Gardai believes her injuries would have been much more serious if only for a man walking nearby who heard her scream and came to her aid.

His attacker also kicked his dog and the animal suffered internal injuries.

A Garda source said: “Only this man came to her rescue and her attacker got away, God knows what could have happened.

“When you see how poor Ashling Murphy was randomly killed, she’s a lucky woman.

“She was walking under the Boyne Cable Bridge when this incident happened. This is a shocking attack.”

Gardai says the thug they are looking for is a tall, unshaven man in his late thirties with thinning hair.

He also spoke with a non-Irish accent and wore a red t-shirt and gray tracksuit bottoms.

It is believed he also approached two other women on the same path a few hours later, but backed off and fled again.

There had been a number of other random attacks in the area over the past year and in one case a jogger pushed away a man who had tried to assault her.

A few years ago, another jogger was dragged into the shallow Boyne River by a homeless man and sexually assaulted. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Gardai says they are investigating the latest incident but no one has been arrested yet.

Louth Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster has called for an increased Garda presence in the popular tourist haunt.

She said: ‘The Boyne Promenade is an excellent facility and it is vitally important that people, especially women, feel safe there and do not hesitate to use it for fear of attack or of assaults.

“Gardai must have an increased and regular presence in the region as a deterrent.”

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