JAILED: Walsall man bit uncle at twin brother's wedding

Richard Coleman, 32, also bit his uncle on the arm and hurled racist abuse at two black security officers during the incident at the Coombe Abbey Hotel, near Coventry.

Jailing Coleman for 23 months, a judge at Warwick Crown Court said he had used his teeth like "a wild animal".

After failing to turn up for a previous hearing, at which a warrant was issued for his arrest, Coleman had pleaded guilty at a pre-trial hearing to unlawful wounding, two charges of racially aggravated harassment and failing to surrender to custody.

Recapping the case, Judge Barry Berlin said that on December 31 2016, Coleman turned up drunk to his twin brother's wedding at Coombe Abbey and was making a nuisance of himself.

The court heard that his uncle, John Gardner, tried to calm him down and took him out into the lobby area of the hotel and he was then prevented from going back in.

Butt and bite

Without warning, Coleman began punching and headbutting Mr Gardner, who reacted by punching him back.

As security staff moved in to try and separate them, Coleman bit his uncle hard on the chin.

Judge Berlin told him: "I have seen photographs of that. It is a deep cut, with a fold of skin hanging off his chin, which has left him with a permanent scar."

Coleman then tried to bite Mr Gardner's forearm and threatened to stamp on his head.

The court was told he made "monkey noises" towards the two black security guards, hurling abuse at them and telling them to "go home", which the judge sarcastically observed was "charmingly said after the events of biting your uncle".

The judge told Coleman, whose previous convictions included an assault on another family member: "You used your teeth in the way a wild animal may do.

“This is aggravated by the racial comments you made, and you were drunk.

“Another aggravating feature is the nature of the wound itself. This was a serious and unpleasant wound.”

Judge Berlin said Coleman, of Newport Street, had made a "deliberate attempt to evade justice" for more than a year, before being arrested after failing to attend for a hearing last year.

But he added: "There is no offending since December 2016, which is the best mitigation apart from your plea, which was belated.”