[A] THUG who tore off the end of a man’s nose with his teeth during shocking Carlisle violence has been jailed for nine years.
Steven Barry Hall, 24, had pushed into a city centre taxi rank queue with partner Naomi Blair in the early hours of March 26 last year.
When a man objected, drink and drug-fuelled Hall struck him to the face and felled him before 21-year-old Blair punched his wife to the ground.
As the attackers fled, the aggrieved husband gave chase and, as a fight broke out between the two men, he had the end of his nose bitten off.
The victim, who was in Carlisle celebrating his birthday, had since undergone four operations and a skin graft. He later told police: “I can’t imagine anybody doing that to another human being in real life.”
Hall initially denied being responsible but later admitted wounding with intent. Blair admitted an actual bodily harm assault on the victim’s wife, who suffered a “nasty black eye”.
Both were sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today when “extremely sorry” Hall, of the city’s Raffles Avenue, was jailed and given an extended four-year licence period for what Judge James Adkin described as a “repulsive and cowardly attack”
“This was violence whereby you sought to deliberately disfigure,” said Judge Adkin.
Blair, of Borland Avenue, Carlisle, was handed a suspended six-month custodial sentence, a six-month night-time curfew and supervision.
Detective Constable Tim Prangnell, North Cumbria CID, said: “The level of Hall’s violence in this incident, to bite part someone’s nose off, is nothing short of savage.
“I am pleased that the judge has handed him a significant prison sentence for what has resulted in a life-changing injury to the victim.
“I would like to praise the bravery of both victims in this case and hope that the sentencing can provide them with some form of closure.
“I hope this also sends out a strong message to anyone that would even consider engaging in such violence that there is no place for this and we will bring any such offenders before the courts.”
