'The attacker clamped down on my left ear and was biting - I could hear a crunching sound': Killer bit off hospital worker’s ear

Liam Burke's victim became aware of someone approaching him as he faced a cupboard in Rampton Hospital, on June 5 last year, before he was punched in the right side of his head, prosecutor Ali Zaki said.

“I tried to grapple with the person,” the assistant said in a statement. “A patient tried to intervene. I felt an arm around my shoulder.

“The attacker clamped down on my left ear and was biting. I could hear a crunching sound coupled with intense pain.”

His colleagues intervened and he was taken to Doncaster Royal Infirmary for “reconstructive surgery to make my ear match my right ear.”

The court heard Burke, aged 25, has nine previous convictions for 14 offences, four of which are for violence.

Burke was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 10 years, after pleading guilty to murder in 2015.

The defendant refused to be interviewed and was recalled to prison.

Mr Zaki said it was difficult to determine the level of harm he caused as his victim has not yet made a victim personal statement.

Burke, who represented himself via a videolink from HMP Frankland, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

He told magistrates he had nothing to say about the offence.

Because the eventual sentence is likely to exceed the magistrates’ powers, the case was committed to Nottingham Crown Court on October 29.