Tina Love jailed over Butlins nose-bite panto attack
A woman who bit off part of another woman's nose at Butlins during a children's pantomime has been jailed.
Tina Love, from Dartford in Kent, has been sentenced to six years after previously being convicted of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The assault took place in the concert area of the holiday camp in Bognor, West Sussex, during a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk in April 2013.
Julie McDonald, from Buckinghamshire, suffered head and facial injuries.
Chichester Crown Court heard Love, 28, of Acacia Road, head-butted Ms McDonald, who was then 47, before biting off part of her nose and spitting it out on to the floor.
The attack in front of 450 people followed a dispute over whose table was whose, the court was told.
Part of Ms McDonald's nose had to be reattached during surgery.
'Scarred for life'
A victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Rachel Beckett said the attack left the mother-of-three living a "nightmare".
"The assault on me was unwarranted, unprovoked and has left me scarred for life," it said.
"I was left in the theatre covered in blood with one of my children next to me as I screamed out in shock and pain.
"You can't hide from this. It is there every day staring me in the face when I look in the mirror and I have to deal with this for the rest of my life."
Defending, Neil Guest said Love would lose her local authority home and also be separated from her three children, aged eight, five and four.
In mitigation, he said she had no previous convictions, had not been in trouble since the attack and was at low risk of re-offending.
"She's a true, caring mother who helps strangers and gives to charities," he said.
"What came over her that night we simply don't know."
Sentencing, recorder Mark Milliken-Smith QC said it was a "tragic case" in which everyone had suffered, including Love's own children.