A ground worker who left two men scarred for life by biting their ears has walked free after a sheriff heard he was subjected to racist abuse for being a Geordie.
Liam Bell told a court that a group of Scots in a Blairgowrie nightclub targeted him and his colleagues with anti-English abuse because of their accents.
Perth Sheriff Court heard one of Bell’s victims had his ear so badly ripped off he needed emergency surgery to put it back together.
Bell, 20, was working in Perthshire with a team from England when they had a run-in with a group of Scottish football and rugby fans.
The court was told the groups had clashed because the locals had started mocking the Balfour Beatty workers for being Geordies.
Solicitor George Donnelly, defending, said yesterday: “He was having a robust time, being exuberant and noisy. He was on the dancefloor, careering about with his shirt above his head.
“It seems likely it was that behaviour which attracted the attention of others. Certain derogatory comments were made towards him. Racist comments.
“There was a coming together and he accepts the biting and punching was far in excess of what was required.
“This was 10 or 15 minutes of madness over almost 20 blameless and productive years. He was involved in a terrifying incident which was completely out of his universe.”
Depute fiscal John Malpass said victims Liam McLaren and Michael Fleming were in The Gig in Blairgowrie when the trouble erupted.
During the fracas Bell sank his teeth into Mr McLaren’s ear. It was cut and he also suffered a chipped tooth.
Bell left the bar and was followed a short time later by Mr Fleming.
They brawled in a hedge and Bell took a chunk out of his victim’s ear.
Bell, Hopper Terrace, Shotton Colliery, Durham, admitted attacking Liam McLaren, 26, and Michael Fleming, 25, by biting their ears in Blairgowrie on November 19 last year.
Mr Donnelly said: “A team is up here working with other people from the Sunderland area.
“Mr McLaren confessed he had been drinking from noon having visited Edinburgh for the rugby and he had not stopped drinking.
“Mr Fleming confirmed he had been drinking since 7.30am. He had been at Ibrox for hospitality. There was a complete absence of reason throughout this whole incident.”
Sheriff Gillian Wade said: “It is the biting that is of considerable concern. A custodial sentence would be quite clearly justified.”
She placed Bell on supervision for 18 months, ordered him to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and told him to pay £1,200 compensation, in total, to his victims.
