A 22-year-old man who bit the top off a fellow nightclubber's finger has been jailed for a total of 29 months.

Bradford Crown Court heard that James Richardson had drunk about 15 Barcardi Breezers before he confronted Steven Narey outside Oscar's nightclub, in Keighley, last June.

Prosecutor Thomas Bayliss explained that there had been an earlier incident in the club when Mr Narey's girlfriend had complained about Richardson's behaviour.

He said during the confrontation outside, Richardson threw a punch which missed Mr Narey and then bit off the top of his right middle finger.

"As Richardson got to his feet the fingertip was still in his mouth and he spat it out," said Mr Bayliss.

The fingertip was packed in ice but attempts by surgeon's at Airedale General Hospital to stitch it back on proved unsuccessful.

During yesterday's hearing, it was revealed that Richardson, of Redcliffe Avenue, Keighley, had breached a community service order which had been imposed for an offence of affray, again outside a nightclub.

On that occasion he chased after a man and punched him in the face when he was holding a bottle in his hand.

Judge Roger Scott sentenced Richardson to 27 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to the latest offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Narey, and ordered that he should serve a further two months in custody for the previous affray.

Richardson's barrister, John O'Shea, conceded that his client had had a serious drinking problem in the past and had also gained something of a reputation for being a hardman in the Keighley area.

He said Richardson told police after the biting incident that he had little recollection of it because he had drunk something in the region of 15 Barcardi Breezers.

Mr O'Shea also stated that at the time it was not unusual for Richardson to spend £100 on alcohol in a weekend.

But he argued that Richardson was now showing signs of maturity by reducing his drinking, holding down a job and spending time with his girlfriend.

Judge Scott conceded there were some encouraging signs for the future, but he noted that when he was being questioned by the police, Richardson had suggested that he would have been "bragging" about the incident if he could have remembered doing it.

He also took account of a victim statement given in March, in which Mr Narey described how the injury still caused him pain and he had trouble performing certain tasks, including writing.

"It is a serious matter and unfortunately it is not one which is alone in coming to the courts," said Judge Scott.

"These sort of offences, biting off people's ears and fingertips, come before me with monotonous regularity."