'I had my nose bitten off': Factory worker, 23, relives moment attacker targeted his face in horrifying daylight brawl

A father today relived the shocking moment the tip of his nose was bitten off in a street brawl.
Brian Broughton, 23, of Forest Hall, Tyne and Wear, was left scrabbling in a patch of muddy grass looking for his nose after the attack when he was confronted by a group of men in daylight.
He is now waiting to discover whether plastic surgeons will be able to rebuild his face, after the doctors who re-attached his nose end with more than 70 stitches have warned it could fall off.

Horrific: Brian Broughton (left, just after the attack; and right, now) was left scrabbling in a patch of muddy grass looking for his nose after the attack when he was confronted by a group of men in daylight

The factory worker had been to the Xercise4Less gym in Benton near his home on March 28, when he was allegedly confronted by a group as he walked along Whitley Road on his way to work.
Mr Broughton said: ‘It’s just sick. I can’t believe anyone would do that. My nose was just on the pavement covered in mud. It was just horrible. It just looked like a bit of meat.’
One of the men began to fight with Mr Broughton and after he was knocked to the ground he felt others start to kick him.
He added: ‘I ended up having a fight with him. But then I realised it wasn’t going to be a fist fight. I was getting booted in the face. One of them was kicking me in the face like he was taking penalties.
‘I was on the floor and I could hear someone say, “Bite him”. He didn’t want to fight with me, he wanted to bite me. I was half knocked out and stunned. Then I realised he was biting my nose.’
When Mr Broughton felt his attacker’s teeth clamp around his nose he pulled away in shock. But the man bit off the end of his nose, before spitting it out on the ground.

He continued: ‘I was shouting and screaming. It was some pain. I was just in shock. You just don’t expect someone to do that. Real men don’t bite people.’
Mr Broughton scrambled on the grass looking for his nose as passers-by dialled 999. He said: ‘When I found my nose it was flattened and covered in mud and little stones.

'It’s just sick. I can’t believe anyone would do that. My nose was just on the pavement covered in mud'
Brian Broughton

‘I had it in my hand. I can remember when the ambulance pulled up I was trying not to look at the window because I didn’t want to see my reflection. I was scared to look.’
Mr Broughton was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where doctors quickly got to work trying to re-attach the end of his nose.
And although the medics did successfully stitch it back on, Mr Broughton has been told the tissue on the end of his nose is dead and he will need plastic surgery.
Doctors plan to stretch the skin on Mr Broughton’s forehead and use some of it to rebuild his nose. But he has been warned the slightest knock could cause the tip to drop off.
He said: ‘The tissue on the tip is gone. I’m going to have to go back to hospital for reconstruction.

‘It could take months and months to heal and I’m going to have a horrible scar there for the rest of my life, but it’s amazing what they can do.
‘I’m going to have to be careful for the rest of my life, though. Just putting a jumper on over my head could knock it off. I’m just going to have to get used to protecting it.’

'I was shouting and screaming. It was some pain. I was just in shock. You just don’t expect someone to do that. Real men don’t bite people'
Brian Broughton

Mr Broughton does not know why he was attacked that afternoon, but suspects it was because of an ongoing feud between men living in Palmersville and nearby Forest Hall.
‘We don’t get on with them and they don’t get on with us,’ he said. ‘For about three years there’s been a lot of fighting round here. But I don’t get involved with that.
‘I know everyone round here and when this happened everyone came to see me. The amount of messages on Facebook was unbelievable,’ he said.
‘I haven’t been staying in the house since it happened. At first I was worried about going out, but I can’t just sit around the house while all my pals are at work.’
David Robson, 21, of no fixed abode, was charged with wounding with intent to cause GBH. He was remanded in custody by North Tyneside magistrates, and will appear at crown court on a later date.