A FORMER soldier dressed as Colonel Gaddafi during a Hallowe’en night out in Aberystwyth bit off most of a stranger’s ear.

Geraint Evan Jones, 25, thought that Gwynant Lewis Jones had pushed him while they had been standing at the bar of the Academy pub in Great Darkgate Street.

He leaned over and bit Mr Jones’ ear “to shock him” and held on when others tried to force them apart.

Jones, of Queen’s Avenue, Aberystwyth, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm but denied doing so with intent. He was cleared of the more serious charge after a trial at Swansea Crown Court.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, said Mr Gwynant Jones, from Machynlleth, had been a complete stranger and may have not even been the person Jones thought had pushed him at a very crowded bar.

CCTV footage showed Jones leaving the bar area and putting down his drink only to return within seconds and attack Mr Jones.

A large part of his left ear was ripped off. Bar staff found it but doctors said it was impossible to reattach it.

Mr Jones said he was still under the treatment of plastic surgeons at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital.

Jones told the jury he admitted being the man who bit him but said he had had no intention of causing so much damage.

Jones’ barrister, James Hartson, said there was no doubt he was responsible for a nasty incident. But that, he added, was reflected in his plea of guilty to the lesser charge.

Jones will be sentenced on 20 March after a probation officer has prepared a report into his background. He was granted bail meanwhile.