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A drink-fuelled brute, who had been given somewhere to stay by an old friend, launched an 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 breath, 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
only been together for four weeks when Evans launched the violent attack. The victim had been unwell in bed, when she woke up at 7pm on October 5 last year and, after seeing that Evans
wasn't at home, she locked up. He began banging on her front door at 3.10am. The woman let him in and later told police that he was drunk and upset. Evans said that he had had an
argument with his brother-in-law. The woman told him to sleep on the sofa and gave him bedding. But minutes later, Evans appeared in her bedroom, asking: "Where's the f******
fags?." On Monday, Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, told the court that Evans said he could "sleep where he wanted" and began complaining about his brother-in-law. The woman told him
"to forget about the argument" and to go to sleep on the sofa. "He put her in a chokehold," Ms Haigh said. "She tried to break free but he continued to hold her
around the neck. He punched her. When she put her hands up to protect her face, he punched her hands." When the victim ran out of her home, Evans pulled the bedroom door off it's
hinges, before fleeing. He returned at 9 o'clock the next morning, after the police had gone, and banged on the woman's windows. He was still wrapped up in the duvet she had given
him. Evans, of no fixed address, was later found lying under the duvet in Burn Valley Gardens. He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation and
making a threat to kill at an earlier hearing. Evans has three previous convictions for domestic violence and others for assaulting police officers and criminal damage. In 2014 he was
convicted of a wounding offence, where he used a knife on his victim. In mitigation, Stephen Constantine said that Evans has pledged "not to drink again." The defence barrister
told the court that his client, "wants to get his life back on track. His father has cancer and he wants to be there for him." Jailing Evans for 30-months, Judge Francis Laird told
him: "It is clear to me that you have a significant problem with controlling your temper whilst in drink. You attacked your victim in her own bedroom. You strangled her. You punched
her and you threatened to kill her. It must have been a terrifying experience for her to endure." The judge granted an indefinite restraining order prohibiting Evans from contacting his
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