A thug who hacked off a chunk of a man's ear with a blade amid claims he had threatened his mother has been spared jail and ordered to pay his victim £500. Alan Hulston, 55, pounced on Andrew Cunningham outside his flat in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
The pair had earlier exchanged words on the street, but when Cunningham returned home the yob was waiting outside his door. Cunningham turned in a bid to flee the scene but was struck by a "sharp implement" on the side of his head.
He desperately tried other flat doors in the close before he eventually found safety after bursting into a property. The residents of the flat could "see daylight" through the top of Cunningham's ear and gave him a towel to stem the blood flow until an ambulance arrived.
