A BUSINESSMAN pinned his girlfriend down and bit off part of her ear in a sickening drug-fuelled attack.

Paul Freek flew into a rage during an argument with his partner about their respective children, kicked and stamped on her and smashed her across the body with a wooden pole with such force that it snapped.

Bolton Crown Court heard how, despite surgery, the woman still has tissue missing from her ear and is so self-conscious about the injury that she no longer wears her hair in a pony tail.

Freek, aged 40, of Park Road, Westhoughton, had denied causing actual bodily harm but was convicted following a trial and he has now been sentenced to two years in prison.

“In light of what I judge to be a lack of proper remorse in your case I don’t think it is justified to suspend the sentence,” Judge Timothy Stead told him.

The court heard how Freek, a father-of-two, who earned £47,000 a year as an online marketing manager for Crown Oil, has a previous conviction for biting a partner’s nose in 2015.

Philip Hall, prosecuting, told how Freek’s latest victim had moved into his home three months before the attack on March 30 last year.

Freek had been at a work do where he had drunk alcohol and taken cocaine before returning home where he and his partner took more of the drug and shared a bottle of vodka.

But in the bedroom an argument began and Freek climbed on top of her and punched her in the face.

“In order to defend herself she leant forward and bit the defendant on the ear,” said Mr Hall.

“In fact she bit the defendant’s ear with such force that a piece of it came off.

“In retaliation the defendant bit the complainant on the ear and also bit her on the left nipple.”

Freek went to the bathroom to examine his own injury, trying to stick part of his own ear back with blood, before he picked up a pole and returned to the bedroom to continue the attack. She believes that she blacked out during the course of this,” said Mr Hall.

Judge Timothy Stead told Freek: “This assault was particularly serious."

A restraining order was made banning Freek from ever contacting his victim.