A man has been jailed for savagely biting another man's nose just three months after he was released from prison after serving time for manslaughter.

Craig Bell, 26, of Routh Road, Barton, Oxford, was jailed for three years in February 2005, for the manslaughter of Graham Playle, 57, of Paradise Square, Oxford.

Mr Playle died after he was punched by Bell outside a kebab van in Bonn Square on October 22, 2004.

Bell was released on May 5 this year, but was back at Oxford Crown Court yesterday, after he admitted assaulting John Lanigan.

Last year Mr Playle's family and friends said they felt no bitterness towards Bell - and yesterday his brother, Mick Playle, 64, stood by those comments.

At the time he accepted an apology from Bell and hoped he would learn from the experience and mend his ways.

Speaking after yesterday's sentencing, Mr Playle, from Surrey, said: "It is disappointing but hardly surprising, but I don't go back on anything I said at the time."

Addressing yesterday's hearing Clare Tucker, prosecuting, said Mr Lanigan was with friends in Oxford's Old Fire Station nightclub on July 30.

She said: "The defendant approached him, grabbed his head, pulled it towards him and bit him on the nose very hard.

"He tried to pull away and a friend tried to pull the defendant away.

"The defendant continued to bite a second time.

"Mr Lanigan put his hands to his face and saw they were covered in blood."

Police were called, and arrested Bell.

Miss Tucker said Bell had been on licence from prison when he bit Mr Lanigan, and had now been recalled to finish the manslaughter sentence.

Colin McCarragher, defending, said: "This was a man who was trying to put his past behind him.

"He says, 'I thought I had got it all under control, thought I'd sorted myself out, I had too much to lose'."

Judge Julian Hall told Bell: "You have been assaulting people on a regular basis for some time.

"As you know, the last time you did it the man you hit died."

Describing Bell as dangerous, the judge sentenced him to 15 months in jail.

He told the court he would be on licence for an extended period of two years when he was released.