Five people have been charged with a suspected hate crime after a 17-year-old asylum seeker was beaten in a "brutal attack" in Croydon.

The Kurdish Iranian teenager was fighting for his life after a gang set on him at a bus stop at around 11.40pm on Friday.

Up to 20 people are said to have watched as the teenager was kicked and punched in the attack which left him with a fractured skull and blood clot on the brain.

Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24 - all from Croydon - have been charged with violent disorder.

George Walder is additionally charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.

They are due to appear before Croydon magistrates today.

It is thought the victim had been living in south London for months before the attack.

Police are now trying to trace his family, who are believed to be in Iran.

Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan told a press conference: "Obviously he is going to be scarred for life as a result of the beating he sustained.

"His face did receive some significant injuries, that was the main focus of the attack.

"But what I can say is that, without a doubt, this will leave lasting scars."

She added doctors soon hoped to move him from intensive care on to a mainstream ward.

Police still want to speak to the two men pictured above in connection with the attack.