A man who bit off his best friend's nose after an argument over hair removal cream was jailed yesterday.

Because of the severity of Charles Cassidy's attack, John Brash now has to wear a silicone prosthetic on his face and has been forced to give up his job as a model.

Cassidy, 20, who had pleaded guilty in May to assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, was sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to more than three years in jail.

The court was told the pair were friends since childhood after growing up in Tranent, East Lothian, together and had been at a party on February 23 when Cassidy squeezed hair-removing cream onto Mr Brash's head.

They fell out and Mr Brash, 21, went home, but Cassidy telephoned him later on asking to meet him at a nearby roundabout for “a square go”.

There, Cassidy knocked his friend to the ground and straddled him. “He had me pinned down with his knees on my shoulders and was gouging at my eyes with my fingers,” Mr Brash said.

“I couldn't believe it, I told him he was an animal.”

Cassidy replied: “I'll show you an animal”, and sunk his teeth into his friend's face.

Mr Brash said: “The pain was unbelievable and I was screaming at him anything I could to get him off me but he just kept chewing.

“He was biting so hard that he lifted my head off the ground. I could taste my blood running down my throat and was worried that I was going to choke on it. It was agony and actually a relief when the nose came off because there was less pain and he got off me.”

Mr Brash, who faces years of surgery, said that the attack had his shattered his confidence. “Every time I look in the mirror now, I wonder what if it hadn't happened. We would still be mates, I would still have my nose and Charles wouldn't be in jail.

“It's ruined my life. I won't be confident enough to speak to girls. I always think they are looking at me. Even when they're not I think they are.

“There won't be anymore modelling either, I was with an agency but now I know that is over.”

Sheriff Isabella McColl described the attack as “unusual and appalling” and sentenced Cassidy to 40 months in jail.

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