A teenager had to desperately search a pub floor for part of his finger bitten off during an attack, as the culprit continued to drink his pint.

Cranbrook student Michael Connell, now 22, had the top of his finger bitten off in an unprovoked attack at The Milk House in The Street, Sissinghurst, and spent minutes searching for it, as blood spewed from his wound.

Surgeons were not able to reattach the body part, meaning Michael's dreams of becoming an electrician were over, and he suffered social anxiety afterwards.

Recalling the aftermath, and speaking after his assailant pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, Michael said: "I was searching round asking 'have you seen the top of my finger?' It sounds disgusting.

"The first half-an-hour I was just in complete and utter shock, it didn't really sink in exactly what happened."

"When I was looking at it that's when I could start really feeling the pain."

On the evening of November 30, 2018, Michael joined his cousin at The Milk House, taking his sister's boyfriend along.

He hadn't been in the pub that long before he was approached by Steve Hubbard, a man he had never met before and didn't know anything about, and who started swearing at him.

He appeared drunk and Michael said he didn't know who he was. The man grabbed him round the throat, Michael remembers.

The 19-year-old reached up to Hubbard's face, and Hubbard bit down on his finger. Another man then pulled Michael away, the top of his finger falling away, leaving the bone exposed.

"As soon as I put my hand up, I was basically looking him dead in the eye and I saw him bite down on my finger then at the same time I got dragged to the side.

"It felt like I was getting attacked from all angles. Everybody round me was completely in shock as well."

After the event, Michael says the culprit didn't seem bothered by what he had done, and continued his pint.

Once they were at the hospital, Michael was told the finger couldn't be reattached due to fears of infection.

After an initial surgery, He had to have another three operations on his finger because the wound didn't heal properly, and the physical element required in his electrician course meant he had to give it up halfway through.

He had saved for the course himself, which cost about £4,000.

"Probably for about six months after that I had a lot of social anxiety about going out and doing anything like that really because, where this attack was completely unprovoked, it was just very shocking for me."

Michael is now studying engineering at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Steve Hubbard, 60, of The Street, Sissinghurst, pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm at Maidstone Crown Court on November 1.

He will be sentenced on December 17.

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