A MAN who bit the tip off his former partner's finger as they rowed about getting the children ready for school has been jailed for three years and four months.

Simon Ndeithi sank his teeth into the index finger of his ex, with whom he still shared a house in Covingham with, after she wagged it at him during the argument.

And although Ndeithi, 38, cleanly bit off the last one or two centimetres of the digit, a court has been told it has fully grown back.

George Threlfall, prosecuting, said Ndeithi had been with his victim for about four years, and they had two children before they split in about 2010.

Although they ceased to be a couple they lived together for seven years with their children.

On Wednesday, October 5, last year he said Ndeithi was trying to raise one of the girls for school when he started shouting, only to be told not to by his ex.

"They seem to have confronted each other. The defendant did not like being told what to do," Mr Threlfall said.

"She lifted up her right hand and wagged her finger from side to side, saying 'No, It is too early in the morning for shouting', whereupon the defendant grabbed hold of her right wrist, pulled it towards his mouth and bit her index finger.

"He did it with such force he bit the tip of her finger right off and spat the tip of her finger out. It is quite a chunk he has bitten off. The tip: one to two centimetres has come clean away."

He said remarkably the missing section has grown back, including the finger nail, though it is slightly lighter and she has lack of feeling, making it hard to hold a pen.

Though she did not contact the police, she went to the hospital where medics, having heard what happened, did and she said what he had done.

Initially she did not seek to make a complaint, and he made no comment when questioned, but she agreed to give evidence at a trial last month.

However, before a jury could be sworn in, Ndeithi pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mr Threlfall said that he had told the Home Office had served papers on the defendant and were seeking to return him to Kenya.

Ndeithi has a previous conviction for assaulting the same woman as well as for being drunk and disorderly and drink driving.

Nicholas Clough, defending, said his client was full of remorse for what he had had done and was very sorry from the moment it happened.

He said he now accepted the relationship was at an end, though he still wished to have contact with his children.

Jailing him Judge Tim Mousley QC said: "I am satisfied for a moment you intended to cause her real harm and serious distress by assaulting her.

"And you did that by biting the tip of her finger and the guidelines are that where something akin to a weapon is used the assault is a serious one.

"In addition this was an assault on your partner in her home. From the material put before me it is plain to me that there is some history in your behaviour in a violent way towards her.

"There is, I accept, a lack of premeditation on your behalf but it seems you completely lost control of yourself and probably not for the first time."

He also imposed a restraining order banning him from contacting her for five years.