A 40-year-old man was recently arrested in Torre del Mar after biting the ear off another customer in a bar, back on Christmas Eve.

The 35-year-old victim, also a resident of that town, told the police how he had been sitting on a bar stool and had felt a blow against his back. When he turned round, he came face to face with a local man, whom he knew by sight only.

According to the victim, the aggressor launched himself at him and bit his ear off. After a brief struggle, the victim managed to shake him off and run for the exit.

He wasn’t sure what damage he had suffered to his throbbing each, but the looks of shock on the faces of people he passed made him realise that he wouldn’t be winning and beauty contests any time soon, so he made his way to the medical centre.

They took one look at his ear, or what remained of it, and despatched him to Hospital Carlos Haya in Málaga, where they tried to reconstruct it.

The Policía Nacional in Vélez-Málaga began investigations, which finally led to the aggressor’s identification, whereabouts and eventually to his arrest.

Believe it or not, this was the second attack of its kind in the province of Málaga in less than a month. A man was arrested, accused of ripping off part of an American tourist’s ear in the centre of Málaga during a brawl.

So, if you’re going across the border into Málaga, wear chainmail earmuffs…

(News: Torre del Mar, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)