Man bit victim’s ear in “abhorrent” attack

A man who bit another man’s ear during a prolonged attack has been jailed for more than five years.

Douglas Witterick, 45, began attacking the man at a property in Godmanchester, near Huntingdon, at about 3am on 25 April.

The pair had been talking about people they knew when Witterick flew into a rage, calling the victim a “bully”.

Pictured: Douglas Witterick, 45. 

The victim went to bed, but Witterick burst into the bedroom and began repeatedly punching him, biting his ear and trying to bite his finger.

Witterick left the room but then attacked the victim again, this time in the kitchen, as the latter attempted to leave.

He punched and slapped him multiple times, tapped a cannabis grinder on his forehead to intimidate him, kneed him in the thigh and threatened to stab him.

Witterick left the property and handed himself in to police at Parkside Police Station in Cambridge on 28 April.

The victim attended Hinchingbrooke Hospital for treatment for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

On Friday (23 October), at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court, acting as a crown court, Witterick, of Park Lane, Godmanchester, was jailed for five years and four months, having pleaded guilty to two counts of actual bodily harm at an earlier hearing.

He had also breached a suspended sentence following a previous conviction for actual bodily harm and was handed a 12-year restraining order against the victim.

DS Karolina Olszewska said: “This was a prolonged and abhorrent attack by Witterick on the victim, which is reflected in the sentence given by the court.”