A man who had one of his ears cut off when he was attacked in a park described yesterday how doctors stitched it to his stomach in an attempt to save it.

Student Paul Gibbs, from Leeds, was attacked by three men as he camped out with a group of goth friends last year.

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Because the ear was not found for 17 hours, surgeons could not immediately reattach it. Instead, doctors stitched it inside his stomach so the tissue will re-grow. The plan is to then reconstruct the ear using some of the cartilage from 26-year-old Mr Gibbs’s ribcage.

He said: “It is going to hurt, but I want it done.”

Mr Gibbs was attacked in Rothwell Country Park, near Leeds, in August last year when he and a group of friends were camping out.

He suffered brain damage when he was hit over the head with a motorbike helmet before his left ear was sliced off.

Last week, two 18-year-olds and a 22-year-old were convicted of attacking Mr Gibbs. The younger men were ordered to serve a minimum of two years and 210 days, and the 22-year-old was told he must serve four-and-a-half years.