A 50-YEAR-old man had his ear bitten in an assault by two men as he walked home along Bromsgrove High Street in the early hours, a court heard.

Jeffrey Rainsden was on his way home from an evening with friends when he came across two men loitering in the high street, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Mr Rainsden told a jury one of the men asked for a cigarette and then told him he was not being very friendly when he carried on walking because he had become suspicious.

CCTV footage shown to the jury showed Mr Rainsden being followed by the two men, Paul Williams and Adam Price, at about 2am on August 29 last year.

Mr Rainsden said he was struck from behind on the side of the face and he tried to fight back, shouting "Are you mad. There's CCTV

everywhere" but he was pulled to the ground outside Santander bank. CCTV footage from inside the bank showed him being punched on the floor.

Price "chewed" his ear and said "you're no more than meat to me," Mr Rainsden told the jury.

He struggled and was hit a number of times, causing a fractured eye socket and bruising to his face. He has since recovered.

"I just didn't know what was going to happen," he said. "I was thinking the worst."

The attack stopped and the two men, who had been drinking, made off. Mr Rainsden's shoulder bag was found in an alleyway near the scene and a mobile phone was missing from it.

Williams, aged 27, of Bucklands End Lane, Birmingham, and 26-year-old Price, of Old Forest Way, Birmingham, both pleaded not guilty to

robbery and were cleared unanimously by jury members, who decided they had not taken the bag.

Price pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm before the trial. Williams did not attend court for the trial and it continued in his absence. He pleaded not guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm but was found guilty.

Price said a fight had started between Williams and Mr Rainsden and he had intervened. They fell to the floor and he thought Mr Rainsden had deliberately hit him in the face with the back of his head so he had retaliated by biting his ear. He denied making the comment about the victim being "no more than meat".

Judge Michael Cullum adjourned the sentence for two weeks for police to find Williams and bring him to court.