A THUG who "clamped" his teeth round a teenager's hand and threatened to knife him in a senseless vicious street attack has been jailed.

The victim was one of five 18-year-olds walking along Holgate Road in York, towards a birthday party when Callum Brown, 20, started shouting abuse at one of the girls from the other side of the road and followed them, said Andrew Semple, prosecuting.

Despite her boyfriend telling him to stop it and the entire group going down a side street to try and avoid him, Brown injured the girl he was insulting and attacked her boyfriend.

The Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC told Brown: "You quite viciously and deliberately bit two of his fingers. You clamped your teeth around them, causing deep cuts to the tips of his fingers and in consequence of that he suffered extreme pain and lost one of his nails as well."

He jailed Brown for 18 months, saying he had used "disgusting" language towards the girlfriend and carried out a persistent attack "for no good reason".

Brown, formerly of Acomb Road and now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two offences of actual bodily harm. He had been on parole at the time from a 15-month prison sentence for witness intimidation and escape from lawful custody and subject to a community order for carrying a weapon in public.

His solicitor advocate Julian Tanikal said he was appalled by his behaviour that night. He had very little memory of it because of the amount he had drunk.

Mr Semple said the attack happened after 9pm on December 9. Brown had a bag with him in which he claimed he had a knife, and he threatened to stab the teenagers, but the police didn't find a weapon in it when he was arrested shortly afterwards.

The incident began with Brown shouting at the woman victim from behind the group and on the other side of the road the male victim turned round and asked him to stop.

But Brown continued and followed them. Again the male victim turned round and Brown lunged at him, knocking the woman victim over and spraining her ankle in a bid to get to her boyfriend.

The group moved off, helping the injured woman along, into a side street, but Brown followed and punched the boyfriend in the face. He tried to punch him back and both men ended struggling on the ground.

Brown grabbed the boyfriend's hand and put it in his mouth, injuring him. The boyfriend had to have a tetanus injection.

Brown was recalled to prison following his arrest to serve more of the 15-month sentence, the third time the probation service had had to have him recalled for breaching the conditions on which he had been released.