REVELLERS looked on calmly as a man had his ear bitten off by a former partner, a court heard yesterday.

No one stepped in to help and one man even continued eating a jacket potato as he saw the severed ear lying on the pavement.

The astonishing scenes were captured on security TV cameras that recorded the 25-minute incident in the centre of Middlesbrough.

Teesside Crown Court heard how trouble flared when Helen Crawford bumped into Michael Ingledew during a night out.

Karen Smoult-Hawtree, in mitigation, said Crawford had snapped after years of abuse at the hands of her former partner.

The security TV video played in court showed Crawford punching and kicking him, banging his head against the wall of a building, then biting off his left ear.

A police officer pulled on surgical gloves and picked up the ear, and Mr Ingledew was taken to Middlesbrough General Hospital. His injuries also included multiple cuts and a black eye.

Roger Moore, prosecuting, said surgeons were unable to reattach the ear and Mr Ingledew needed repeated plastic surgery.

Ms Smoult-Hawtree said Crawford had suffered years of abuse at Mr Ingledew's hands.

She said she had been a virtual prisoner in their home until police helped her escape with their four-month-old daughter 11 years ago.

Crawford, now 31, hid in women's refuges in Bishop Auckland and Durham City, cut off her hair and dyed it. Then she changed the names of herself and her daughter, and avoided him for ten years.

She told friends she was frightened he would kill her.

In 1993, he tried to gain access to the child but a family court refused him.

Last December, Crawford returned to Middlesbrough for a Christmas party. She bumped into him as she walked from the venue with her friend.

Ms Smoult-Hawtree said Mr Ingledew, who had convictions for actual bodily harm assault on two subsequent partners, shouted to Crawford: "I want to see my daughter."

Seconds later, the fight began.

Crawford, whose County Durham address was witheld by order of the judge, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding last December 21.

A psychiatric report said that she would be a suicide risk if she was jailed.

Crawford had amnesia over the incident, and a pre-sentence report said she posed no risk to the public.

The judge imposed a two- year Community Rehabilitation Order and said he hoped she would continue with psychiatric counselling.