Woman Jailed for Biting Off Tongue

A British woman who bit off her boyfriend's tongue during a passionate kiss was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison.

Tracy Davies, 40, was convicted three weeks ago on a charge of grievous bodily harm, according to British media reports.

Her boyfriend, Mark Coghill, testified in Newcastle Crown Court that Davies had asked him for a "smoochy kiss" on his birthday last October. When he obliged, she bit off a third of his tongue, then spat it on the floor.

She "turned into the likes of Mike Tyson within 15 or 20 seconds" just moments after being "lovely," Coghill said, according to Sky TV News. Tyson was disqualified from a heavyweight title boxing match in 1997 after biting off a piece of opponent Evander Holyfield's ear.

According to trial testimony, Davies, a recovering alcoholic, was angry with Coghill because she wanted a baby but had not gotten pregnant. In sentencing her Tuesday, Judge John Evans said Davies had acted in an "animal fashion" and that Coghill's injury was "truly appalling," according to the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The judge said Davies was not a danger to the public, but stressed that she had exhibited no remorse.

"I dare say Mr Coghill living as he must do for the rest of his life without two-thirds of his tongue will continue to regard you as dangerous," he told her.

The bitten-off part of Coghill's tongue was recovered, but it was not possible to reattach it.

"He has by the loss of his tongue experienced a considerable loss of taste, and he feels the disfigurement very keenly," Evans said.

"Thankfully people biting other people's tongues off is a fairly unusual experience," the judge said, according to BBC News.

"These courts have had plenty of experience of people biting noses off a person, or ears, or parts of noses and parts of ears, but in my experience, biting a tongue off in this fashion is unique."