A THUG who “brutally” attacked a woman with an ironing board at a party after stealing her purse and knocking her unconscious has been jailed.

Jamie Garwood, 29, of Pugsley Street, Newport, also punched, kicked and pulled the hair of Alison Hughes after a boozy get-together in the city’s Pill area.

His victim, who knew the defendant, was left in “excruciating pain” after suffering a broken left foot and bruising to her left elbow, shoulder and torso.

She needed treatment at the Royal Gwent Hospital for her serious injuries.

Prosecutor Rosamund Rutter told Cardiff Crown Court how Garwood assaulted Miss Hughes at a party hosted by Christopher Wainfur.

She confronted the defendant about stealing her purse which contained £60 in cash as the pair were drinking together in Bolt Close on Friday, June 30 last year.

Miss Rutter said that after repeatedly punching, kicking and pulling her hair, which left her losing consciousness, “the defendant picked up an ironing board and used it like a bat…he then stabbed her with it”.

The court heard how Garwood battered Miss Hughes about seven or eight times with the weapon.

The defendant was appearing in court via video link from Parc Prison where he is already serving a separate 27-month sentence, imposed last month, for violent disorder and failing to surrender.

He was also being sentenced at this latest hearing for a public order offence and assaulting a police officer.

Miss Rutter said the first offence related to a road rage incident at a garage on Newport’s Malpas Road on September 15, 2017 when Garwood threatened Andrew Samuels by shouting at him: “I am going to kill you and your family.”

The second charge concerned at attack on PC Andrew Rosen on the city’s Ruperra Street on February 28 this year when the officer was kicked in the ribs.

The policeman was hit when he tried to get a handcuffed Garwood in the back of a police van after an emergency call was received that he was causing damage at a property there.

Miss Rutter told the court that the defendant has 39 previous convictions for 66 offences, including robbery.

Paul Morris, mitigating for Garwood, said: “He has struggled with a drink and drug addiction for many years which has led to the reckless behaviour we have seen here.

“He was living on benefits and not working, drinking and taking drugs to excess and hanging around with people who were doing the same.”

Referring to the assault of Miss Hughes, Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Garwood: “This was a brutal attack. It was a cowardly attack on a woman who was no match for you.”

He was jailed for a total of two years and two months.

Garwood was found guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm, the theft of the purse and the public order offence in his absence by magistrates after two trials in February.

He admitted assaulting PC Rosen.