AN ear-biting attacker was locked up after a court heard how drink and medication had turned him into a monster.

Jonathan Warren was captured on closed circuit television cameras tearing off the top of his victim's left ear outside a pub.

Glowing references and a letter from the 29-year-old's father describing him as "my best friend" showed a different side to him.

A judge at Teesside Crown Court told him "the only explanation" for the gruesome attack was that he was under the influence.

Warren, of North Road, Hartlepool, was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent after a trial last month.

He had always accepted causing the injury to his victim, but denied he intended to do so, said his solicitor Martin Scarborough.

Mr Scarborough told Judge John Walford that the four-year prison sentence means that Warren now risks losing his home.

"He is genuinely remorseful," said Mr Scarborough. "I accept it has to be immediate custody. This is very much out of character."

Judge Walford told Warren: "It is apparent from all that I've read about you that you are, when sober, a decent, hard-working man.

"The only explanation for what possessed you to behave as you did is the fact you were under the influence of alcohol, having not drunk for some time, and also, it would seem, affected by medication you were taking.

"Otherwise, for you to be transformed from the person I have read about to the person I saw on the closed circuit television camera is quite beyond belief."