A man is today beginning a three-year jail term after he punched a drunken woman before dumping her naked outside an Ipswich bar.

IPSWICH: A man is today beginning a three-year jail term after he punched a drunken woman before dumping her naked outside an Ipswich bar.

Jamie Scoulding, 22, had previously admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Ipswich Crown Court but was last month cleared by a jury of raping the woman at Keo's in St Nicholas Street.

Judge John Holt, told Scoulding: “It is quite clear you must go to jail.”

The court heard Scoulding, of Hyperion Court, Ipswich, met his victim in the Milestone pub in Ipswich on June 24 before taking her back to Keo's, where he worked.

The court heard Scoulding plied her with booze despite her already being drunk.

The couple had consensual sex but an argument ensued and in a struggle that followed, Scoulding punched the woman in the face, causing her to stagger backwards.

The woman then came at him so he pushed her, forcing her to fall backwards and hit her head on the bar before slumping unconscious on to the floor.

The father-of-one then dumped the woman's clothes and bag outside the bar before taking 14 minutes to drag her naked, unconscious body out on to the street where she was discovered by a passer by.

During his rape trial, Scoulding was accused of embarking “upon a web of lies and deceit” which included giving police a false name and telephone number.

Judge Holt said: “His character can be regarded as reprehensible.

“I am quite satisfied it was only because a passer by came to the scene that you dialled 999.”

The woman was left with massive facial swelling and multiple bruising to her back and hip where Scoulding had dragged her through the bar. She also had a suspected fracture to her face.

Scoulding originally denied knowing the woman but later conceded he was responsible for her injuries when CCTV footage showed him with her in the bar.

His family gasped as he was sentenced to three years in prison.