A Jewish inmate has been sentenced to 18 months for grievous bodily harm after biting a Muslim prisoner’s ear off in an argument over religion.
Paul Jones, 43, said he felt isolated and threatened before lashing out, but acknowledged that he had taken matters “a step too far.”
During the 2017 incident in HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Jones grabbed fellow inmate Azhar Hussain and bit off the outer rim of his ear before spitting it onto the floor and choke-slamming his victim into a table, the court heard.
“A certain cohort of prisoners was effectively in charge of certain wings,” said Jones’s lawyer Christopher Johnston at Aylesbury crown Court.
“He [Jones] entered as a Jewish man. Predominately people in his block were of a different faith. He was asked to move cells to make room for people of their own faith. He says he was subject to intimidation prior to the incident, he felt very isolated. He feared attack from the men and he took a step too far.”
Prosecutor Charles Digby said: “He bit him on the ear, so hard that he bit off the pinna, the outer rim of the ear. He also must have been a very strong man, because he grabbed hold of him by the neck and slammed him onto a table.”
Digby added: “A bit of his ear was found on the floor. I cannot say from the medical reports I have seen that they did more than stitch it up.”
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