A British tourist at a popular Cretan resort was charged yesterday with grievous bodily harm for allegedly biting off a large chunk of a local barman’s nose.

Police in Iraklion said the 22-year-old Briton, whose name was not made public, attacked 29-year-old Mantheos Kalogerakis late on Wednesday at his bar at Mallia, some 30 km (19 miles) east of Iraklion, “for no apparent reason.” The suspect reportedly told a public prosecutor that the victim had bumped into his girlfriend. Kalogerakis was rushed to hospital where doctors fought to reattach the missing section, described as most of the fleshy part of his nose.

The attack comes three weeks after a British tourist on Rhodes was charged with cutting a fellow-Briton’s throat with a broken bottle in a nightclub at the Faliraki resort, which attracts hordes of young UK visitors. This prompted a police crackdown on the wilder tourist antics in Faliraki.