A hairdresser to the starts is 'lucky to be alive' after being bitten by a mugger attempting to grab his £7,000 watch, a court heard.

Daniel Galvin Jr, whose famous clients include Kylie Minogue, Amanda Holden and Kelly Brook, was smoking a cigar outside his Belgravia salon when he was allegedly targeted by Alejandro Belhaouari, 23.

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Belhaouari asked him for a cigarette, before trying to snatch his £700 mobile phone and designer watch in March this year, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Giving evidence from behind screens, the hair stylist said he thought he had been stabbed when Belhaouari bit him on the shoulder.

Mr Galvin, 45, said: "I was getting a taxi home, I thought what a lovely evening, it was perfect to have a small cigar.

"I was checking my messages from my wife and my emails. Someone came over and asked me for a cigarette, I didn't have one.

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"He then came towards me and tried to grab my phone from my right hand. I pulled my phone back, then this guy hit me round the side of my head with his fist.

"He pulled me towards him off the steps - I felt my watch strap loosening as well.

"It was then I thought I had been stabbed, I then realised I had been bitten on the shoulder. The pain was excruciating, I was really fearing for my life, and that's when I hit him.

"With all my force, and all my might, I got him off me.

"I then pinned him down with my leg, and told him if he bit my leg I'd hit him.

"He then bit my leg."

Mr Galvin told jurors that two taxi drivers had then intervened, one of whom called the police.

He added: "I've had to take sleeping pills. I'm lucky to be alive."

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Belhaouari denies the attack, insisting he had merely asked Mr Galvin for a smoke.

Prosecutor Penny Matthews said: "In a police interview he said he had asked for a cigarette, but Mr Galvin Jr was abusive, threatened him and then lashed out and attacked him."

Belhaouari, of no fixed address, denies two counts of attempting to rob.