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Drunk bit off ear of ex-rival
7:32am Thursday 17th September 2009
A DRUNKEN man has been jailed for two years for biting a chunk out of the ear of his girlfriend’s ex-lover.
Christopher Cook got into an argument with Andrew Booth at the Oddfellow’s Arms in St Helens Road, Daubhill.
Bolton Crown Court heard that Cook punched Mr Booth, aged 37, in the head and the pair grappled on the floor.
Cook, aged 31, bit off a third of Mr Booth’s ear, then put his thumb in his eye as he tried to defend himself.
The row was over Carrie Langstreth, who Mr Booth was dating until November last year and who became Cook’s girlfriend in February.
Police were called to the incident, which happened on Friday, May 22, and Cook was arrested shortly afterwards at his home in Longfield Road, Daubhill.
Mr Booth was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital before he was transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital.
Doctors tried to re-attach part of his ear, but the surgery was unsuccessful. He is now waiting to find out if he can have plastic surgery.
Mark Friend, defending, told the court that Cook had had an addiction to heroin for many years and funded his habit through crime.
But during his latest spell in custody in 2007, he had managed to get clean.
He added: “It was a spontaneous and serious assault which had no justification.
“In a matter of moments, he has undone all his progress and is back to square one.”
Cook pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm at an earlier heating and was jailed for two years yesterday.
Judge William Morris said: “This is a very serious offence. It was a savage assault on a man and left him with a grossly disfigured injury which may never be repaired.
“The victim split up with the lady who became your girlfriend.
“You had a chance meeting in a pub and words were exchanged and the outcome was that you attacked this man and bit off a chunk of his ear.
“It has caused him great distress.”
amanda.smith@theboltonnews.co.uk
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