A man who beat up his girlfriend was jailed yesterday for what the judge called a cowardly attack.

Witnesses saw Kai David Anderson, 24, jump three times on the 22-year-old's head as he shouted "die".

Then he walked calmly from her home said Shaun Dryden, prosecuting.

The woman was taken to North Tees General Hospital, Stockton, with cuts and bruises to her face. Anderson was arrested and said that he was drunk on eight pints of lager after an all day binge. He accepted their seven month relationship was over but said she punched him first when he was abusive.

He had a previous conviction for assaulting his sister and her friend and conceded he seemed to have a drink problem, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Judge David Bryant told him: "This was a cowardly attack. It's significant that your record shows that you lose your temper and assault people who are either younger or weaker than you or both."

Anderson, of Vulcan Way, Thornaby, was jailed for 21 months after he pleaded guilty to the May 30 actual bodily harm assault.