A MAN who launched an unprovoked attack on his girlfriend in a hotel room after her work Christmas party has been jailed for 18 months.

Shane Harper punched and tried to strangle Rebecca Charles in an ordeal that lasted up to an hour.

When she finally managed to get away, the 21-year-old followed her down to the foyer where he smashed the front window.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that Harper had been in a relationship with the woman for about 11 months before the incident.

She said the victim worked in the kitchen at the Menzies Hotel on Fleming Way and the staff Christmas party took place on January 14.

All staff were allocated a room for the night after the event.

At about 1am, Harper and Miss Charles went to the room and she was sitting on the bed when he came out of the bathroom and attacked her.

He grabbed her from behind before repeatedly punching her to the head, close to her temples.

Miss Charles said: “He punched me over and over again, I can’t remember how many times, it was all happening so quickly.”

As he attacked her he shouted: “Why are you doing this to me? It’s all your fault, why do you make me do this?”

He repeatedly kicked her in the head after she went to the floor and tried to protect herself with her hands. The victim feared he was going to kill her when the phone rang after a resident in a neighbouring room contacted reception.

When she answered, he kept quiet and she was so scared that she told the receptionist she was fine.

Soon after he put his hands round her throat and squeezed. He stopped for a while then began strangling her again, placing his thumb on her windpipe, saying: “I love you, why are you making me do this?”

She managed to get up and ran to the door, getting out as he punched and smashed a mirror in the room.

He chased her down a corridor to reception, where she spoke to a member of staff who could see her injuries. Harper was asked to leave but refused. A worker described him “smirking and looking smug”.

Once they got him outside he punched and headbutted the plate glass window until it smashed, but he was arrested soon after.

Harper, of no fixed abode, admitted actual bodily harm and criminal damage.

Francisca Da Costa, defending, said Harper had post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of abuse he suffered as a child.

She said the man who did it to him died before he could be brought before the court but it had a devastating effect on him.

Judge Euan Ambrose said: “There can be no alternative to immediate custody for an offence like this. That has to be understood.”

He also imposed a restraining order, banning Harper from ever having contact with the victim.