A MURDER suspect told hospital staff he bit off somebody’s ear and fed it to him the last time he got angry after he was arrested.

After Mark Hartley was arrested alongside Heidi Kennedy and Darren Miller at his flat in New Kiln Road, Colchester, he was taken to Broomfield Hospital where he stayed for a number of days before being taken to the police station.

During his stay he told a nurse he was getting agitated and said: “I’m getting angry.

“The last time I got angry I bit someone’s ear off and made them swallow it.” A search of the St Mary’s Car Park stairwell after Mr Dines was found showed there was skin tissue on the floor - which could have been his ear - where he also had a deep cut.

Investigators concluded the blood splatter meant Mr Dines was lying or sitting down when he was attacked.

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Police officers guarding Hartley when he made the claims questioned him on the incident and he backtracked saying it had been Miller who had bitten the ear.

Miller, who has already admitted manslaughter, also appeared to make admissions when he was being booked into custody and said: “My life is now over.

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“I am a good person, I just made a mistake.

“He was alive when I left him.”

Both Miller and Kennedy declined to answer questions in interviews with police answering no comment to everything.

But Hartley answered points put to him by detectives until he was questioned about a pair of shoes which were seized from his flat after his arrest.