A 33-YEAR-OLD man who bit off part of a passenger’s ear during an altercation on a train has been spared jail.

Ivo Grenho, of Goosander Way, Thamesmead, appeared at Southwark Crown Court today August 15 after pleading guilty to wounding without intent at an earlier hearing.

He was handed a 34-week prison sentence suspended for two years and must pay his victim £4,500 compensation.

Grenho was also sentenced to 200 hours' unpaid work and must pay £500 court costs.

The court heard the incident took place after Grenho boarded a busy train at London Bridge at around 8pm on May 31 2009.

He sat next to another passenger, a 32-year-old from Catford, and throughout the journey the pair jostled with each other for room.

The man got up to leave the train at Lewisham and words were exchanged between the pair.

They then began fighting, wrestling with each other in the aisle and trading blows.

Other passengers tried to intervene and break up the altercation, but not before Grenho bit off part of his right ear.

By then the train had reached Blackheath and the emergency cord had been pulled.

Police and rail staff boarded the train and Grenho was arrested and taken into custody.

The victim was taken to St Thomas’ Hospital and later required plastic surgery and a skin graft for the injury.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Don Thompson, from British Transport Police, said: “As the journey progressed, things became increasingly fractious between the two men, with both jostling for room and feeling the other had invaded their personal space.

"However, the subsequent altercation between the two men ended with extreme violence from Grenho.

“He later claimed he'd bitten the man's ear in self-defence, but the accounts of independent witnesses on the train told us a different story. This was an inexcusable act of violence."