POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a serious assault on a 34-year-old woman on the Isle of Wight left her in a critical condition.

Three men were arrested after police were called to Culver Parade where the woman was discovered on a beach near Colonel Bogey's Nightclub in Sandown.

The woman, from Portsmouth, is being treated in St Mary's Hospital, Newport for extensive injuries.

Detectives are now appealing for witnesses to the assault which they say had a sexual motive. It is thought the attack took place in the early hours of yesterday.