A pub landlady who has been left permanently disfigured after a customer bit off her ear in a brutal attack has shared images of her shocking injuries.
Michelle Thomas, 37, was off duty in her pub in Birkenhead when Gemma Rowlands and her now husband Darren More began 'causing trouble' on the evening of November 11, 2019. The pair were asked to leave, resulting in a scuffle which saw Michelle fall to the floor with Rowlands 'on top of her'.
Rowlands then proceeded to bite part of Michelle's ear off in a 'traumatising' attack that has left Michelle struggling with her mental health and permanently scarred, reports the Liverpool Echo.
At a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, Rowlands admitted wounding and was jailed for 14 months. Defending, Mr David Polglase said the attack was 'very out of character' for Rowlands, who has no previous convictions.
Michelle has now spoken out about the impact the incident has had on her, which she described as "traumatising", and said she has been left permanently disfigured. The 37-year-old said the pub was busy that evening due to it being Remembrance Sunday and the football being on.
She said Rowlands, More and two others came into the pub and "from the second they came in, they were making a nuisance of themselves". Michelle said as licensee and to help her staff, she thought she was best placed to deal with the situation and asked them to leave.
The incident escalated and Michelle said "all hell broke loose." Speaking to the ECHO, she said: "She went for me, they were all on top of me and there were people trying to stop it around us. Her partner was on top of me as well, the other lad that they were with was kicking me in the head.
"She bit my ear off and then we got them out of the pub and it was only then I realised that my ear [had been bitten off]. I felt her bite it, but I didn't realise she had actually bitten it off until one of customers got a cloth from behind the bar and put it on my ear.
"The police and ambulance came and from that I was taken to Arrowe Park and then taken straight over to Whiston Hospital to see if it could be reattached, but because it had been found on the floor by the paramedics, the surgeon wouldn't reattach it for me.
"He said the best option was to go down to surgery and have it all cleaned, scraped and stitched and then later on for the process of getting surgery to reconstruct my ear."
Michelle said her mental health has "deteriorated" following the incident and has struggled with feelings of paranoia.
She said: "I spend a lot of time at my mum's now due to my mental health, rather than staying at home. Obviously from court yesterday I went straight to my mum's and stayed there last night."
Michelle added: "For the first two years, I was really paranoid all the time. I already had OCD but my mental health deteriorated, I had all my medication increased. I then started to live it with it for a bit and then the [hearing] came around and I was back at the doctors.
"I had to come out of work while they changed all my medication again."
Michelle said she decided against surgery to reconstruct her ear due to it being extensive, meaning her ear will be permanently disfigured.
The 37-year-old said: "They made me a prosthetic one because they said it would take 12 months before I could have the reconstructive surgery. I couldn't wear it because I had to glue it on and it wasn't the same colour as my ear and it just made me feel really paranoid.
"When I went back to see the surgeon over the surgery, he explained what would take place. They would have to take cartilage from my ribs and then my ribs would have to be drained and I would have to stay in hospital on three occasions just for them to make it, for them to fix it basically.
"I had to pass a psychological evaluation, like an assessment, so I thought about it for a while and I eventually agreed to go ahead with it, but then when they sent me the form out that I had to fill in it was quite personal.
"I just broke down again and I haven't gone ahead so I am stuck like this forever."
Defending Rowlands at Liverpool Crown Court, who has no previous convictions, David Polglase said a dispute had erupted after his client "removed a child from the toilets" and took them to their parents, but was accused of having "scared" the youngster.
The assault then came after the 25-year-old, who works with autistic children, and her friend had been "grabbed by their hair and taken out" following the dispute.
Mr Polgase said: "She assisted in removing a child from the toilets and returned the child to one of the parents. She defended her position and said she hadn't scared the child.
"There are others involved who were not holding back or covering themselves in glory. My lay client looks back at what happened that night with remorse and regret.
"Your honour can genuinely look at this eight minutes and says that is something very different and out of character for Ms Rowlands. She has not been in trouble before.
"It is evident that my lay client can be a successful member of society and is valued in her employment. She is disgusted by her actions."
More, has one previous convictions for drink driving in 2015. After his arrest, the 31-year-old said he had consumed 12 pints of Carling and a "fight just kicked off".
He later said that he too had been acting as a "peacekeeper". Charles Lander, defending, told the court that his client worked 80 hour weeks in traffic management and had become a "step father" to Rowlands' kids.
More's counsel added: "It is over three years since the commission of this offence. Mr More isn't someone who has just sat around, he is someone who is hard-working.
"He is someone who joined the army and was hoping for a promising career, but he snapped his ligament in 2010 and his progress was cut short. References describe the defendant as hard-working, reliable, punctual, well-mannered, a joy to work with and someone who cares for his family.
"He had drunk too much that day. He was minding his own business, a man grabbed hold of him and perhaps his natural instincts kicked in at seeing his partner on the floor being restrained - he accepts what he did then became unlawful."
He broke down in tears as his wife was taken down, then began retching in the dock. This continued as the defendant was taken into the back room leading to the cells, where it appeared he was being sick.
Rowlands, of Victoria Road in Tranmere, admitted wounding and was jailed for 14 months. More, also of Victoria Road in Tranmere, pleaded guilty to affray and was handed a four-month imprisonment suspended for a year.
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