A MAN who launched a brutal attack on his partner while holding her hostage in his van was jailed for three-and-a-half years yesterday.

Robert Thompson, 38, repeatedly punched Zoe Gowland, put a rope around her neck, broke a pint glass over her head and threatened he would kill her during the hour-long ordeal on October 13, last year.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the 24-year-old was dragged into Thompson's Astra van as she made her way to a friend's house after the couple had rowed in a pub.

The pair met on holiday in Tenerife 18 months earlier and lived together in Chester Road, Sunderland.

Robin Patton, prosecuting, said that Miss Gowland, who worked at a travel agency, lost consciousness in the locked van and woke to find she was being pulled by the hair and punched again.

Mr Patton said: "She woke up, believing she must have been unconscious for a period, to find the defendant taking her by the hair, lifting her face up and punching her in the face.

"A glass was then broken over Miss Gowland's head before Thompson warned he was going to kill her."

Mr Patton added: "He got some rope and momentarily put that around her neck."

Thompson told her they were going to drive to the beach but instead headed to Hylton Street, Sunderland, where she managed to escape.

Miss Gowland suffered severe bruising to her face and was seen at Sunderland Eye Infirmary after complaining of blurred vision.

Thompson was arrested in Beckley, East Sussex, after he fled the area following the attack.

An extradition warrant is outstanding against him relating to fraud charges in France.

Thompson, who admitted false imprisonment, has since said that what happened was "the biggest regret of his life".