Reveller is jailed for bite attack on friend
A man has been jailed for three years after biting his friend on the face, causing "horrendous" injuries and scarring him for life.
On New Year's Eve last year Nicholas Woolley had been out drinking with a group of friends at the Bridgewater Arms pub in Harmer Hill, Shrewsbury, which included his childhood friend and chef at the pub Paul Molineux.
Robert Edwards, prosecuting, said Woolley, 29, of Hillside Myddle, Myddle, had drunk about nine pints of lager as well as three rounds of Jaegermeister.
There were a number of incidents throughout the evening when Mr Molineux had to intervene because Woolley, a farm labourer, was getting aggressive and argumentative with others in the group.
It was about 10 to 15 minutes after the last intervention when Woolley lunged at Mr Molineux across a table and bit him on the face and lip, an attack which was sustained until he was pulled off.
Mr Edwards said: "Initially Mr Molineux thought this was horseplay as he had done similar things in the past. But it was far from it and he bit him to the lip and the face he pulled him off his stool and had his teeth clamped into his face."
Mr Molineux was rushed to hospital in Telford and required 32 stitches to his face, which the court heard would leave permanent scarring.
Mr Molineux was off work for three weeks and had to pay over £100 for his treatment prescriptions. He has also since left his job at the pub and is looking for new work.
Mr Edwards said: "He will be scarred for life and he is conscious of what people will think when they see and meet him."
Judge Robin Onions, sitting at Shrewsbury Crown Court, said: "This is probably the worst injury of this type I have ever seen.
"It is a horrendous injury and he has been left with permanent scarring. Granted I think his scars would be more apparent to him.
"Your former friend was acting as a peacekeeper for you and this is what he got for it.
"You drank a ridiculous amount of alcohol and lost control.
"It seems you are a decent and hardworking man when you are sober, but when you have been drinking you are someone who is very unpleasant."
Andrew Holland, mitigating, said: "It took great courage to enter a guilty plea.
"They were all friends and it is a shame the evening had to end the way it did.
"He is appalled by his behaviour and what he did."
