A man has been found guilty of an attack in which he bit off part of his victim's ear in a street brawl.A jury at Ipswich Crown Court took just 45 minutes to convict Craig Smith after hearing that he moaned with pleasure while gnawing on Ashley Sims.

Simon Tomlinson

A man has been found guilty of an attack in which he bit off part of his victim's ear in a street brawl.

A jury at Ipswich Crown Court took just 45 minutes to convict Craig Smith after hearing that he moaned with pleasure while gnawing on Ashley Sims.

After the “serious and sustained” assault, which was captured on CCTV, Mr Sims required surgery to close the wound to his ear.

He also suffered two black eyes and a corneal abrasion after Smith, of Blackfriars, Sudbury, tried to scratch them out.

Mr Sims had been in the Grover and Allen pub in Sudbury, when Smith grabbed him by the throat before throwing a chair at him.

The victim left the pub but returned half an hour later to try to sort out the argument

While Mr Sims was standing at the door to the pub, Smith's son came out and there had been an argument between them.

Smith, 45, then knocked Mr Sims over and banged his head on the ground a number of times, said prosecutor Peter Gair.

He then tried to gouge Mr Sims's eyes out before biting off part of his ear.

Giving evidence at the trial, Mr Sims said Smith had made a “mmmm” noise as he bit his ear. “It was as if he was enjoying biting my ear off,” he said.

Smith had denied wounding Mr Sims with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on September 3 last year.

After his arrest, Smith told police that he had been subjected to verbal abuse and claimed that he had gone outside to defend his son after seeing that he was being assaulted.

Smith was granted conditional bail after the unanimous verdict and is due to be sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court on June 24.