Drunk thug bit part of man’s ear off in fight
TWO-YEAR SENTENCE HANDED OUT AS DETERRENT TO OTHERS
A THUG bit off a third of man’s ear in a savage attack “bordering on barbaric” during a fight outside a Northumberland nightclub.
Drunk Nathan Cook left his victim permanently disfigured when he sunk his teeth into his ear in the early hours of the morning near a pub in Ashington.
The 21-year-old and a group of pals had been out drinking in the town when they got into an altercation with Kyle Swalwell and his friends, a court was told.
That dispute quickly escalated into a fight and, wrongly believing he was under attack from Mr Swalwell, Cook bit his ear and ripped part of it off. Newcastle Crown Court heard that shocked nightclub staff saw the victim covered in blood and found a piece of his ear nearby, prompting them to try and save it by placing it in ice.
But, despite their best efforts, medics were unable to reattach the severed body part and Mr Swalwell has been left permanently disfigured, prosecutors said.
The police were called and Cook, of Lochcraig Place, Cramlington, was arrested and charged with wounding without intent.
Now, he has been jailed for 24 months after pleading guilty to the charge during a hearing at Newcastle’s Moot Hall.
Locking him up, Recorder Toby Hedworth QC said: “The prosecution accept you were acting in what you believed was self-defence. However, this remains an extremely serious matter because, defending yourself is one thing, but what you did was bordering on barbaric.
“To bite someone’s ear to the extent you sever one third of it is a very grave matter indeed. This is an offence, which requires a deterrent sentence because, whatever people get up to when they get involved in a fight when they’re drunk, this sort of thing is appalling and cannot be tolerated.”
The court was told the fight broke out between the two groups of men in the early hours of March 25 last year outside a nightclub in Ashington. Prosecutor Jonathan Devlin said: “During the course of the fight, Mr Swalwell went to assist and found himself engaged with this defendant. He felt a significant pain to his ear and other witnesses describe him being on the ground with people punching and kicking him.”
In a statement, the victim said the attack would affect him for the rest of his life. He said: “Every time I look in the mirror, I will be reminded of this brutal assault.”
Penny Hall, mitigating, said Cook had never been in trouble before and was disgusted at himself. She said: “The complainant came over and, as another person was assaulting the defendant, the defendant believed the complainant was going to get involved in that assault and he bit out, causing the injury.
“He fully accepts that was completely unreasonable and excessive but, at the time, he did believe the complainant was coming to assist the male assaulting him.”