A man who bit half a finger off his best friend’s uncle when he tried to stop him ruining his nephew’s wedding day has been jailed.
Daniel Peasnell, 33, had been invited to usher at Peter Green’s wedding at The Perch, a historic Oxfordshire inn, but began drinking at breakfast time.
Jurors heard the wedding ceremony was a ‘tremendous success’ but Peasnell continued drinking during proceedings.
Later on, the dad-of-four got into an argument with his then-girlfriend in which he ‘shouted at her and called her a whore’.
He was asked to leave, prompting him to attack the wedding organiser and a member of staff, the court heard during his trial.
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Describing what happened next, the judge told Peasnell: ‘Later on, you insisted that your friend, Peter Green, came out to speak to you. He did.
‘You thought he would be kind to you and invite you back inside.
‘He described your behaviour that evening as behaving like a wild animal.
‘When it was clear he was not going to invite you back inside, you became angry and a fight broke out.’
Police were called, after which Peter’s uncle, Stephen Dixon, got on top of Peasnell and held him down.
‘Just as the police were arriving, you saw his finger and bit on it with all your force,’ the judge continued.
‘You bit so hard it broke his bone. The pain must have been excruciating, as we can see from the video.
‘”He’s biting my f*cking finger,” [Mr Dixon] shouted. The police got hold of you and eventually managed to handcuff you and take you away.’
The court heard the top of Mr Dixon’s ring finger came clean off.
It was recovered from the scene and reattached in surgery, but he had to have part of his middle finger amputated due to the fracture.
A construction worker, he lost out on work following the incident and could no longer keep up his hobby of playing drums, jurors heard.
Peasnell was injured in the fray and was taken to hospital as a result.
Whilst there, he turned to a police officer who was detaining him and said: ‘Get off my arms or I will bite your f*cking nose off’.
The 33-year-old denied grievous bodily harm with intent but was convicted earlier this year.
He admitted other charges of affray and using threatening words or behaviour towards a police officer.
His defence team said he was full of remorse, saying he’d drank a ‘skinful’ and had a poor relationship with alcohol.
‘That is underestimating it’, commented Judge Pringle, who sentenced Peasnell to five years’ prison.
The judge added: ‘You say you are deeply ashamed and disgusted at how you acted.
‘Your big problem is to realise that alcohol and you are incompatible.
‘Using your teeth as you did was using them as a weapon.’
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