ACTOR Clive Mantle fought back tears as he described in court how he was left permanently disfigured after asking two drunken Scottish men in his hotel to be quiet.

Mr Mantle, 56, who is best known for appearing in TV's ­Casualty and Game of Thrones, lost a substantial part of his ear after he was woken up by Philip McGilvray, 33, and Alan French, 32, from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who were shouting in the corridor outside his room, their trial at Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday.

He twice asked the pair to keep quiet and was on his way to the Quayside Travelodge reception to complain when they attacked him, the jury heard.

Mr Mantle said he fought back after feeling a surge of adrenaline when his ear was bitten off, but, remembering the case of farmer Tony Martin (who was jailed after he killed a burglar in his house), he tried to make his response proportionate.

Mr Mantle showed the jury his disfigured left ear at the request of the prosecution.

He explained that he been staying for six nights while working on a touring production at the ­Theatre Royal in Newcastle.

Despite asking for a quiet room, he heard revelry and laughter outside, but eventually it faded. But three or four minutes later there was "the most almighty noise" which sounded like it was right by his door, he said. Mr Mantle went to the door and the noise stopped.

He saw Mr French in front of him, adding: "I must have cast a fairly strange figure. I had a huge moustache, Jimmy Edwards-like, for the part I was playing.

"I said, 'Will you shut up, please, I'm trying to sleep,' and I indicated the rest of the corridor were all trying to sleep.

"He made no further noise and I thought, I have done the trick."

Mr Mantle went back to bed, but the noise started again with, he claimed, one of the men encouraging the other to "'look at the old man in pyjamas'". Mr Mantle said: "I can quite see I looked like a figure of fun. I just wanted them to be quiet and go away."

He then warned them he was going to call security, the court heard. But after searching his room, Mr Mantle could not find any hotel phone so had to walk to reception.

As he walked down the corridor, one of the accused stood up to block his path. Mr Mantle said he did not want to turn back to his room because he feared he might not be able to use his key card quickly.

Mr Mantle then put his hands out to force a gap through the pair, but his arms were caught and he could not free himself. He said 15 blows rained down on his body.

Mr French was pinning him down on the floor, he said, while Mr McGilvray was to his side.

"The next thing I was aware of was a pain in my left ear which triggered a massive response within me," he said. "I said, 'You are biting my f***ing ear.' The adrenaline it gave me enabled me to rip my right hand away.

"The only thing I could do is put my thumb in his eye socket to make him release."

Mr Martin added: "An image of Tony Martin, the guy who shot the intruders in his house, went through my mind."

Another guest came out of her room after Mr Mantle's ear was allegedly bitten off. Nurse Alice Klenk grabbed both defendants by their collars "to stop them having another go at Mr Mantle".

Mr Mantle added: "I looked down on the floor and there was my ear lying on the carpet. That brings things into focus."

He attended a local hospital, but the ear could not be reattached.

Mr McGilvray and Mr French, who have denied wounding with intent, were visiting the city with friends and had been drinking.

The case continues.