Prison for Mansfield man who bit off part of a man's earlobe in savage town centre attack

Mark Wagstaff's victims were socialising in the Cheeky Monkey bar just after 1am on November 11, 2023, when a woman barged into one of them, Katrina Wilson, prosecuting, told Nottingham Crown Court.

"It seems that relatively minor incident sparked violence," she said.

Wagstaff struck one of them in the face when he was looking the other way, knocking him onto the floor, and punched the other so he fell against a wall.

Both men were escorted outside by the bouncers when Wagstaff came outside and punched one of them in the face.

A bouncer shoved the other man into the road where Wagstaff bit off the top of his earlobe. The missing part of the ear was recovered by a police officer and handed to the man in a bag on ice.

His wound was cleaned and dressed at King’s Mill Hospital but the lobe couldn't be reattached. The other victim sustained a black eye.

The court heard Wagstaff has 16 previous convictions for 56 offences, dating back to 1994, including common assault.

Mark Sharman, mitigating, said Wagstaff deserved full credit for his early guilty plea and had stayed out of trouble for 12 years before the offence.

A few months prior to the attack the self-employed plasterer discovered his wife was having an affair and he had to leave the marital home. At around the same time he also lost his brother and sister.

“One can only imagine the effect those three events had on Mr Wagstaff,” said Mr Sharman.

Wagstaff, aged 46, of Crampton Avenue, Mansfield, admitted grievous bodily harm with intent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on November 27 last year.

On Thursday, Judge Michael Auty KC told him: "Whatever perceived sleight had occurred your response was so completely out of proportion that it cannot be overlooked and must be dealt with by a substantial period of imprisonment. Neither (of your victims) was doing anything to justify your severe over-reaction.

"This time the attack was savage. The pain must have been extreme. Nobody should ever have to endure an injury like that.”

Wagstaff was sentenced to five years in prison.