A MENTAL health patient who headbutted and bit a nurse has been jailed for 18 months.

Kristos Sofrianou, 25, attacked Dean Aldridge while staying at Clare House in Pound Lane, Bowers Gifford, on July 5, last year.

Sofrianou, of no fixed address, grabbed Mr Aldridge around the neck after being denied access to a laptop, Southend Crown Court heard.

John Livingstone, prosecuting, said: “Mr Aldridge tried to force the defendant off him, but failed, and Mr Sofrianou headbutted him to the floor.

“He then felt several blows to the left side of his head, which he believed were punches, although he was unable to see exactly what Mr Sofrianou did.”

Even after Sofrianou was wrestled to the floor by staff the attack continued.

Mr Livingstone said: “The defendant then managed to bite Mr Aldridge in the upper chest area, clamping his teeth into Mr Aldridge’s chest for several seconds before he could be pulled off.”

Mr Aldridge was taken by ambulance to Basildon Hospital where he was treated for a five centimetre cut above his left eyebrow, facial swelling, pain in his left shoulder and the bite mark.

Sofrianou admitted actual bodily harm against Mr Aldridge at an earlier hearing.

In mitigation, the court head Sofrianou had suffered a deeply deprived childhood. Rebecca Lee, mitigating, said: “For a tiny child to be referred to a psychiatrist it is clear his problems are not of his own making.”

But in sentencing Sofrianou, Judge John Lodge said he would need to be carefully managed while incarcerated.