Man attacked friend after a night of drinking

VICTIM WAS PUT IN A CHOKEHOLD DURING ATTACK

- By ESTHER HALLIGAN [e-mail] @TeessideLive

A DRINK-FUELLED brute, who had been given somewhere to stay by an old friend, launched a horrific attack on her.

Gareth Evans, 48, put his victim in a chokehold in the early hours of the morning after a night of drinking.

When the victim said that she has asthma and couldn’t breath, Evans told her: “I know you can’t breathe, you stupid b****, I'm going to kill you.”

As the woman broke free, Evans punched her. She fled her Hartlepool home and called the police from a phone box, shortly before 4am on October 6 last year.

Teesside Crown Court has heard that the victim had known Evans, who was homeless, for a long time and, after she offered him accommodation, the arrangement blossomed into a relationship.

But the two had been together for only four weeks when Evans launched the violent attack.