A man has been disfigured for life in a sickening and unprovoked street attack.

Paul Goscinski, 34, needed 17 stitches after the top half of his ear was bitten off and his nose was damaged in the assault on Brighton seafront early on Friday.

Mr Goscinski, of Norfolk Terrace, Brighton, who served in the Army before working for British Rail and Connex as train driver, wants the public to see his injuries in the hope that his attacker will be caught.

Understandably still traumatised by the attack, he said: "Nothing prepares you for something like this.

"I love Brighton. I had heard about violent incidents but I never thought anything like this would happen to me. This person must be caught before he does it to someone else or perhaps murders someone."

Mr Goscinski had been out for a meal with friends and had visited the Revenge night club in the Old Steine.

He had drunk only a couple of glasses of wine and was planning to walk to his flat off Western Road when he decided to phone a friend from the boxes by the Sealife Centre on Madeira Drive.

He said: "While I was making the call two men and three girls came walking towards the box. The door opened and I was confronted by a youth aged around 22, stripped to the waist.

"He said he wanted to use the phone and I told him there were three others available next door. He told me he wanted that phone. I told him to 'relax'. I could see he was high on drugs as the pupils of his eyes had overtaken the iris and his teeth were chattering.

"Then another youth barged into the box and pulled my T-shirt. In a split second he grabbed my nose between his teeth. He was ripping it and biting into it as if it was a soft piece of cheese. He then let go of the nose and threw me on the floor. The first youth then started kicking my head."

Mr Goscinski said he stayed on the ground for a while before getting up to follow the gang. They went down Charles Street by the side of the old Hungry Years pub and restaurant.

The man who had first attacked him was walking a long way behind the group. Mr Goscinski caught up with him and grabbed him, hoping to hand him over to the police.

His accomplice saw what was happening, ran back and a struggle ensued. While on the ground the man who intervened bit into Mr Goscinski's ear and ripped off the top half before walking along St James's Street with the piece of ear still in his mouth. Mr Goscinski said: "He was chewing it as if it was gum. He shouted to me: 'Your ear tastes lovely. Do you want it back?' He then looked towards me and spat it out"

Despite bleeding heavily, Mr Goscinski said he followed the two youths and girls to a nearby all-night store where he asked to phone the police. He pointed out his attackers on the closed-circuit television as they purchased items at the counter.

Paul was unable to get through to the police on the shop's phone but made a 999 call to the police from a nearby box. Police were on the scene within two minutes.

They called an ambulance and Mr Goscinski was treated at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. He had 17 stitches in his ear and doctors are waiting to see how his nose heals before deciding whether to rebuild it.

Paul, a student at Brighton College of Technology, has asked for anyone who knows his attackers to contact the police.

The man who bit Paul's ear and nose is about 5ft 9in tall, stockily built, with short black hair.

He was wearing a grey sweatshirt top and blue jeans.

The bare-chested man, who attacked him first, is described as about 5ft 10in tall and aged about 22. He has short cropped hair and gleaming white teeth.

Paul said: "These people must be caught. I have never seen someone act in such an animal-like way. He must be stopped before he does something like this again."