A TAXI driver had part of his ear bitten off in a row over a drunken karaoke competition.

Magistrates heard the evening ended in bloodshed when the singers couldn’t agree on a winner.

Bahman Kadir, 29, said things got out of hand and a drinking buddy bit off a chunk of his ear.

And despite a PC picking up the piece, surgeons could not reattach it.

“It was crazy,” said Kadir. “We had too much to drink and behaved stupidly.”

Carl Gaffney, prosecuting, said Kadir and a friend had been invited to a party at a takeaway after it had closed.

“A lot of alcohol was consumed and eventually there was, of all things, a singing competition,” said Mr Gaffney. “Fuelled by drink they began to argue about who had won the competition and a fight broke out during which a significant part of the defendant’s ear was bitten off.

“To say it went from the sublime to the ridiculous is an understatement. A singing competition developed into a violent incident with people covered in blood and one losing part of his body.”

He said Kadir, who had no previous convictions, accepted he had shown some aggression although others had shown more.

Kadir, of Ennerdale Avenue, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour. He was made subject to a curfew for four weeks and ordered to pay £60 costs.

Imposing the sentence the chairman of the bench said; “This started as a bit of fun and became extremely unpleasant.”