A Suffolk man has been accused of intentionally wounding his own sister by biting off the tip of her nose.

William Price denied intending to cause his sister grievous bodily harm, claiming he "nipped" her on the nose to stop her chewing his thumb to the bone.

The 68-year-old told Ipswich Crown Court he was attacked by two sisters outside his Broadgrass Green home in Elmswell following a financial dispute last July.

Price needed treatment for a bite wound to his thumb and a cut to the head, while his sister required reconstructive surgery.

When interviewed, Price told police his sisters had been turned away from the address by his wife - at his behest - after they turned up while he was in bed recovering from gallbladder surgery.

He said they returned about 20 minutes later, each carrying a golf club, which he claimed they used to beat him around the head, hands, back and chest.

After wrestling one of his sisters to the ground, Price claimed she tried to "chew his thumb off" in an effort to seize back the club, and that he responded by "nipping" her nose until she pulled away, after first attempting to release her grip by slapping her round the face.

While on the stand, Price removed his dentures to reveal missing top and bottom front teeth, insisting he "snapped" his sister's nose for a matter of seconds before his wife told him to release the golf club.

Price said he had not spoken to either sister for at least eight years, until one of them phoned in June to arrange viewing a log cabin near his address, with the intention of commissioning a similar structure for another of his eight siblings at the West Meadows travellers' site in Ipswich.

He denied ever agreeing to finance construction of the hut, or to removing an existing temporary structure at the site.

Prosecutors accuse Price of throwing a large brick towards his sisters as they stood behind a gate.

He is then alleged to have picked up half the broken brick and thrown it, knocking one of his sisters to the ground before attacking her.

Price called the allegation an "invention" and, when asked why he had chosen not to report being assaulted to the police, replied: "We're Romani people. If we have a bit of bother between us, we don't get the police involved."

The trial continues.