A man from Powys has been jailed for 10 months for biting off his flatmate’s ear.

Jamie Selvey, 26, admitted wounding Shaun Jones, but the court heard he was acting in self-defence.

Paramedics found the ear on the carpet of a flat in Newtown and took it with them to hospital, but doctors were unable to sew it back on, Mold Crown Court heard.

Judge John Rogers QC branded Selvey, of Coed y Ffridd Cottages, Canal Road, Newtown, an ill-tempered nuisance when drinking.

He jailed him for 10 months, but said he could have expected 18 months.

However, Judge Rogers said he was sentencing on the basis of Selvey’s plea that when he bit the other man he was defending himself.

He said: “You went further than self defence by biting off a portion of his ear.”

The court heard Selvey and some friends had been out in fancy dress outfits, but the defendant looked at his girlfriend’s phone, found a text message which upset him, and they had an argument.

In temper, the defendant smashed a window in his flat and his flatmate Mr Jones came up and asked who had done it.

Jonathan Austin, prosecuting, said the men squared up to each other, then started to fight, ending up on the floor.

Gordon Hennell, mitigating, said Selvey had moved back into his parents home. “He deeply regrets what he did,” said Mr Hennell.