Dragons’ Den star Hilary Devey’s husband once bit off man’s nose

The new husband of Dragons’ Den star Hilary Devey admitted he once bit off a man’s NOSE in a drunken brawl.

Phillip Childs, 45, was jailed for nine months after what the judge described as an ”unprovoked, savage and brutal” attack.

The former pub landlord downed eight pints before sinking his teeth into the nose of Carl Wilson, 35.

The chewed-off tip of Carl’s nose was later found under a hedge near The Station pub which Childs ran in Rugely, Staffs.

Carl subsequently needed plastic surgery after doctors failed to sew his nose back on.

Childs – who married haulage magnate Devey in March – pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm in 2004.

But he was convicted by a jury at Stafford Crown Court and sentenced to for nine months in prison.

Childs, who now lives with Devey in her country mansion near Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs., admitted his jailbird history.

He said: ”I was in the outside area of a pub where music was being played.

”A group of men who were well-known in the area were singing along, but their own versions of the songs filled with swear words.

”I objected to the language as there were children present and was punched.

”I lost my cool and retaliated and really hurt the man who had hit me.

”There has not been a day that has passed when I do not regret taking the law into my own hands and injuring that man.

”I had never been in trouble with the police before this time.

”Hilary was aware when she married me that this event had happened years before I had met her.

”I am proud to say that she judges me for the person that I am today, not for unfortunate events in my past that I bitterly regret.”

* Devey, worth an estimated £100million, joined BBC 2’s Dragons’ Den in February.