Thug bit off part of man's ear during fight outside the Mill House pub in Hartlepool

Kalem Lodge, 30, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and separate charges of affray and carrying an offensive weapon.

Teesside Crown Court was told that in a strange twist, the victim of the attack, John Archer, who has been left with an ear disfigurement, bore no ill-will towards Lodge and had written letters to the court accepting the defendant’s remorse and wishing him well.

Vicki Lamballe, prosecuting, said Lodge, of Hood Close, had been in the Mill House pub on the evening of the assault in September last year.

She said around 10pm Lodge was outside the pub talking to two other men when Mr Archer went over asking if everything was alright.

Ms Lamballe said: “The defendant said to John Archer ‘you want a fight like?’ and Mr Archer said no.”

However, she said Lodge went on to punch the victim in the head.

She said: “Both men ended up on the floor. The defendant bit John Archer’s ear.”

Mr Archer was also kicked before the defendant made off and the victim picked up his piece of ear from the road and went back to the pub.

At 9am in September this year police were called to the town’s Musgrave Road following reports of a disturbance and one man having a machete.

Lodge said one of his friends had died and he believed money raised through an online funding site for the funeral had been spent on drugs so he went to confront those he thought responsible.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said: “The defendant has clearly made some inroads in trying to put what he did wrong, right.”

He said Lodge has struggled to deal with issues from his past.

Mr Constantine said Lodge, who was confronted with an air gun in Musgrave Road, only took the machete in case he was threatened.

He said: “Nowhere in the CCTV does it show any attempt of Kalem Lodge to use the article.”

Lodge was jailed for a total of five years for all the offences.