THIS is the moment a drunk usher who bit a wedding guest’s finger off at a reception was tackled to the floor as partygoers scream for help.
Usher Daniel Peasnell was held down by three people after fighting with lifelong friend Peter Green on his big day.
He was thrown out of the lavish wedding at The Perch pub in Oxford for causing a scene.
The 33-year-old dad-of-four – who began drinking at breakfast on what was also his 31st birthday – then bit the finger of Stephen Dixon, the groom’s uncle.
He bit down “with all his force”, breaking the bone – and later threatened to bite off a police officer’s nose.
Stephen lost part of one of his fingers and had to have another part amputated after the incident in 2023, Oxford Crown Court heard.
His Honour Judge Ian Pringle KC said the pain must have been “excruciating”.
Police body-worn footage hears a horrified guest shouting, “He’s bit half his finger off!” before a woman is heard screaming, “Oh my God!”.
The video shows the drunk usher on the floor with this shirt half off, surrounded by dressed-up party guests.
A police officer holding Peasnell down is later heard saying: “Can you get an ambulance as well? I think someone’s finger’s been bitten off.”
Peasnell is then seen sat on the pavement with blood all down the front of his shirt, muttering: “I don’t know what I’ve done wrong… Who have I assaulted?”
The usher was jailed for five years at Oxford Crown Court for grievous bodily harm with intent, affray and using threatening words or behaviour towards a police officer.
Sentencing him, Judge Pringle said: “May 20, 2023, was a Saturday and was to be the day that one of your lifelong friends, Peter Green, got married.
“You got into an argument with your then-girlfriend, Laura. You shouted at her and called her a w***e.
“You were ejected from the wedding, something you didn’t take kindly to.
“You got into a fight with the wedding organiser and a member of staff.
“Later on, you insisted that your friend, Peter Green, came out to speak to you. He did. You thought he would be kind to you and invite you back inside.
“He described your behaviour that evening as behaving like a wild animal.
“When it was clear he was not going to invite you back inside, you became angry and a fight broke out.
“This was witnessed by Mr Green’s uncle, Stephen Dixon, his wife Karen and their children.”
Describing the moment Peasnell decided to bite the finger, the judge said guests were trying to restrain him until cops arrived.
“Stephen Dixon and his son Fred decided to try and keep you quiet until the police arrived. [Mr Dixon] got on top of you and was holding you down.
“Just as the police were arriving, you saw his finger and bit on it with all your force.
“You bit so hard it broke his bone. The pain must have been excruciating, as we can see from the video.
“‘He’s biting my f***ing finger,’ [Mr Dixon] shouted. The police got hold of you and eventually managed to handcuff you and take you away.”
The usher – who was also injured – was taken to hospital, still fuming,
It was there that he threatened to bite off the nose of a cop.
The judge told the court: “You turned to [one] police officer and said: ‘Get off my arms or I will bite your f***ing nose off’.
“That biting action was still in your mind hours later.”
Jonathan Coode, defending, said Peasnell, who is originally from Essex, was full of remorse and embarrassment for the “sorry affair”, admitting he’d had a “skinful” to drink and didn’t have a good relationship with alcohol.
“That is underestimating it,” Judge Pringle commented.
Mr Coode added that despite his actions, there was an element of ‘excessive self-defence’ in what he did.
“[Peasnell] was receiving punches to the head and body,” he said.
“He had had an absolute skinful. He couldn’t breathe [and] it was in these circumstances that he did what he did.”
Mr Coode added that Peasnell was no longer drinking and has a fifth child due in the New Year.
But prosecutor David Jones said Peasnell had used his mouth as a “dangerous weapon” in his attack on Stephen, who had to have part of his finger amputated the day after.
Mr Jones said construction worker Stephen suffered a fracture to the bone at the end of his left middle finger, and that the top of his next finger was ‘missing’.
“He underwent surgery the next day,” he said.
“The fingernail was removed and the top of the left middle finger had to be partially amputated.
“The top of the finger was recovered from the scene.”
Mr Jones added that Stephen could no longer play the drums and had lost out on work due to the injury inflicted by Peasnell.
