A frenzied drinker gnawed a pub landlord's ear and then bit off the finger of a regular who came to the rescue.

Police are trying to trace the 6ft 5in attacker who launched the savage assault after being told to leave the Cricketer's Arms pub in Portslade.

The tattooed thug fled as one of the regulars picked up the victim's severed finger from the pavement and placed it in a wine glass filled with ice.

The man was taken to hospital where surgeons tried in vain to stitch it back on.

Landlord Gerry Lawlor, 60, said: "I thought it was going to be like a Mike Tyson situation and he was going to bite my ear off. He just went berserk, crazy.

"He tried to push me through the window. I got him on the ground and as I did he went to bite my head and my ear. I was in incredible pain.

"That's when one of my regulars came running out and tried to push him away.

"There was a scream and then I noticed all the blood."

The attack happened just before last orders on Thursday evening.

Mr Lawlor said the attacker, in his early 30s, entered the pub in Church Road at 8.45pm.

After several pints of Guinness he became rowdy and at about 10.55pm Mr Lawlor asked him to leave.

When he refused, Mr Lawlor led him outside. A fight broke out and the customer who was injured heard the commotion and went outside.

As he put out his hand the man clamped his teeth around the top of his ring finger and bit it off just above the knuckle.

Mr Lawlor, who has run the pub for ten years, said: "By this time there was froth coming from the man's mouth. A few other customers came out and stood around him."

By the time the emergency services arrived the attacker had run off.

The injured customer, a keen guitar player, was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton but surgeons were unable to sew the finger back on.

Mr Lawlor was treated for the bites to his head and ear but did not need stitches.

He said: "The customer who stepped in was very brave."

The attacker was white, about 6ft 5in tall, with dark hair. He wore a black jacket and grey trousers and is thought to have a tattoo of a bird or butterfly on his right forearm.