A man has denied causing grievous bodily harm after biting off the top of a banker's ear during a fight in Putney's Be at One bar.

Ali Nariman, 35, from Twickenham, was with friends in the Putney High Street pub in April last year, after the Boat Race, when he became involved in a confrontation with banker Charlie Linard.

CCTV images show the pair exchanging words before Mr Linard, 30, leant into Nariman.

According to the defence, Mr Nariman believed he was about to be attacked, following an earlier incident between the two in a different part of the bar.

Nicholas Maggs, defending Mr Nariman at Kingston Crown Court today, said: "We were told [when the case opened] that Mr Linard was out having fun, met a girl, and some man calls his attenion, leans in and bites part of his ear off.

"You can see there is an awful lot more to this case than what happened over the couple of minutes, but what happened prior to the bite.

"The suggestion he saw someone he never knew before and was bitten in an unprovoked attack is untrue.

"Mr Nariman had milliseconds to make a decision to do something, and he says he simply reacted instinctively."

Mr Maggs said Mr Nariman was faced with the "taller, broader, drunk and racist Mr Linard" before the incident. 

Giving evidence for the defence, Mr Nariman's friend of seven years Tarzeem Basumia said he saw Mr Nariman outside the Putney bar within minute of the incident, but had no idea how serious it was until months later.

Mr Basumia said: "The first point I recollect is hearing Ali is in trouble.

"I remember thinking there had obviously been some kind of fight but it must have fizzled out because no one was restraining him.

"In my mind it was finished."

Mr Basumia said he heard later that evening that Nariman had bitten someone, and sent him a text a few weeks later making a joke about "doing a Mike Tyson".

He denied understanding the severity of the incident until a number of months later.

Prosecuting, Angus Robertson said: "Charlie Linard had started the day on April 11 no doubt expecting a convivial time with his friends.

"Charlie Linard had not set out that night to get into any trouble.

"No doubt that was the same for the defendant concerned.

"You might feel that Mr Nariman took offence too easily to the brash behaviour of Mr Linard."

Mr Robertson said that CCTV shows that Mr Linard was trying to move away from Mr Nariman, to move to the smoking area, and claimed that Mr Linard was simply moving his head in to hear what Mr Narimon had said.

Andrew Finch, a teacher at Hampton Academy, told the court that he was "in total shock and saddened" by the allegations against Mr Nariman, and that it was completely out of character.

Mr Linard required surgery and a stay in hospital following the bite.

Mr Nariman handed himself in after a Crimewatch appeal in June 2015 and was arrested on suspicion of assault.

The trial continues with the jury sent out this afternoon to start their deliberations.