A MAN who drank 26 cans of cider and then battered a woman unconscious after she rejected his sexual advances has been jailed.

Scott Weedall posted a message to Facebook in which he said he was going to end his own life, leading the victim – a friend – to contact him to express concern.

The 40-year-old then invited the woman to his flat – offering to pay for a taxi. Once inside the pair began drinking, but Weedall “exploded” after the woman rebuffed his advances.

Prosecutor David Crook told Teesside Crown Court that the defendant punched the victim and continued to hit her in the face and head, leaving her bloodied and bruised.

The woman blacked out, but managed to lock herself in a bathroom where she called the police.

However Weedall began striking the door with a baseball bat, demanding to be let in.

A harrowing recording of the phonecall to police – which lasted 12 minutes – was played to the court.

The woman could be heard begging for police to come and help her, but Mr Crook said she was so scared that she could not recall Weedall’s address or even his name.

Police eventually traced the call using her mobile and restrained Weedall who was arrested and taken away.

The woman suffered two black eyes, bruising and swelling to her face and head, a large cut to her lip and soreness to her jaw.

In a victim impact statement the care worker said Weedall, of South Avenue, Billingham, had a split personality and had “just flipped”.

Peter Wishlade, mitigating, said Weedall, who admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm on February 25, had very little recollection of the incident.

However he could recall “drinking 26 cans of cider or lager on this particular day”.

Mr Wishlade said: “He is utterly and totally ashamed of his reprehensible behaviour.”

Judge Howard Crowson said it was one of the worst cases of assault occasioning actual bodily harm he had ever heard in terms of the terror that the victim had experienced.

He told Weedall: “This was a caring woman trying to help you in a time of crisis.

“Frustrated by her rebuffing you you attacked her in a persistent and violent way.”

Judge Crowson said he could not contemplate suspending a sentence on Weedall, as Mr Wishladed had argued for, and instead jailed him for a year and nine months.