Part of Sunderland mum's thumb bitten off in shocking Holmeside attack by stranger

The severed tip flew into a shop, where it was picked up, packed in a bag of ice and taken to the hospital with the victim.

The injured woman said her thumb is now "half the size of what it was" and is "ugly" to look at but skin and nail has since grown back over the bone, which was previously exposed.

Christopher Chapman admitted he "felt the thumb in his mouth, spat it out and ran away" after the violence erupted in August 2019.

Prosecutor Jessica Slaughter told Newcastle Crown Court the victim had been walking along Holmeside in Sunderland with her sister and got into a row with Chapman, who was sleeping rough and had just got out of prison.

Miss Slaughter told the court: "She remembers her sister saying to her 'it's your thumb' and picking up a discarded thumb tip.

"She looked at her hand and saw part of her right thumb was missing."

CCTV from a shop at Holmeside shows Chapman enter the store with blood on his face and a woman enter behind him, pick the severed thumb tip up from the floor and leave with it.

The victim was taken to hospital and had surgery as well as follow up treatment.

She said in a statement: "It will affect me greatly for the rest of my life.

"I am shocked a stranger would do this to me."

She added: "My right-hand thumb is half the size of what it was.

"The skin has grown over the bone, which was exposed and the nail has grown back but it is ugly to look at."

Chapman, 33, now of Warrington Road, Elswick, Newcastle, who has 96 previous convictions, admitted unlawful wounding on the basis of excessive self defence.

The court heard he claimed he was attacked first, after asking for a cigarette and bit down because he feared his eye was about to be gouged.

Glenn Gatland, defending, said: "He bit down on the thumb, he thought, to try and stop his eye being gouged."

Mr Gatland said Chapman now has a stable home and partner and is sorry for what he did.

Mr Recorder Shakil Najib sentenced Chapman to 13 months behind bars.

The judge told him: "A person is entitled to defend themselves when attacked but self defence cannot be excessive.

"You bit her thumb, severing the tip completely, causing permanent injury."

The judge added: "She received surgery for the injury to her thumb. Her thumb is, she says, half the size of what it was prior to the assault."