Sutton birthday boy bit off man's nose in 'nasty' homophobic attack

Shane Groves, of Hazel Street in Sutton, was sentenced to two years and one month in prison at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday (November 5) having pleaded guilty to a causing grievous bodily harm.

Groves attended a club in Alexandra Terrace, Sutton on April 5 last year to celebrate his birthday and part way through the night started subjecting a man to homophobic verbal abuse.

He was challenged and Groves responded by throwing a chair at the man he was being abusive towards.

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Another man then tried to intervene and calm him down but Groves spat at him and more people came to intervene. The pair separated but continued their verbal dispute over the bar before Groves suddenly stormed over to the victim and head butted him. More people went to separate them but Groves had latched onto the victim's nose with his teeth which resulted in the end of his nose being ripped off and ending up on the club floor.

Despite quick medical treatment at Queen's Medical Centre, the victim lost the end of his nose and is awaiting cosmetic procedures to try and repair the damage.

Police Constable Scott Kerr who led the investigation, said: "This was a victimless prosecution which took a lot of work around CCTV evidence, photos, medical evidence and witness statements to secure the conviction.

"Groves' actions left a man with life changing injuries and caused him great psychological distress purely for standing up to him and trying to calmly put a stop to his homophobic behaviour.

"It was a nasty and unprovoked attack, which we won’t tolerate in Nottinghamshire, so we wanted to make sure we had done everything in our power to see justice served. I'm pleased this has now resulted in a Groves being locked up for his crimes.”

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