Police are looking for a violent mental health patient on the sex offenders’ register after he absconded from a Hammersmith unit.

It is believed Vitalij Kovaliov, 35, is in the Chiswick area and Metropolitan Police said officers wish to speak with him in connection with a number of assaults.

He was last seen around 4.30pm on Friday, June 24 while on escorted leave from the Claybrook Centre in Hammersmith.

Mr Kovaliov, a white man around 6ft tall, made off from staff and headed to Chiswick.

There have been eight attacks over the past four days, ranging from assaults to indecent exposure and, in one case, racist abuse.

The most serious, police said, was at 6am on Wednesday, June 29 in Chiswick, when an eight-year-old boy was assaulted after his mother opened the front door to a man she believed to be a delivery driver.

The boy had to go to hospital after suffering minor cuts to his face.

On Tuesday, June 28 at 12.20pm a 25-year-old woman’s hair was spray-painted red, and 20 minutes later police received reports of a man exposing himself in the middle of the road on Chiswick High Street.

Then at 1pm a 19-year-old man was punched in the face, and at 1.30pm, another man was punched in the back by a male suspect who then ran off.

Half an hour later a 27-year-old black woman was racially abused by a white man who threw a plastic bottle at her face.

Officers were also informed that day someone had sprayed graffiti on a van in Chiswick High Street.

The next day a man had a box of fruit knocked out of his hands at Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre.

The suspect then picked up the fruit and threw it at the victim before running off.

A police spokesman said: “The offences are being linked by locality, nature of the incident and description of the individual involved.”

Mr Kovaliov should not be approached if seen - members of the public should immediately contact police via 999 or 101.

Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.