Johnathon Holmes was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Image: South Yorkshire Police

A sex attacker was left battered and bruised after a young woman fought back as he tried to drag her into bushes to rape her.

Johnathon Holmes was sentenced to four and half years for the attack in the early hours of 1 November.

He was caught on CCTV in Sheffield city centre, hiding behind walls on the lookout for lone women after spending the day drinking.

At around midnight he started following the woman, who has not been named for legal reasons, before running at her and pushing her into bushes.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the woman punched him twice in the stomach while holding her house keys and began to scream.

Holmes pushed her onto her back and said: “You are going to enjoy this” before forcing his tongue into her mouth.

She bit it and continued to hit him in the stomach, face and neck.

She managed to manoeuvre herself in a position where she had her keys held to his neck and throat.

Two people walking past came to help and Holmes fled over some railings, the Sheffield Star reports.

The woman told the court: “I believed without a doubt this man was going to rape me. My life would have been over – he might as well have killed me right there.

“I was so terrified but so angry.”

Rachel Harrison, prosecuting, said Holmes' intended victim had said after escaping: “He won’t do anything like this to a woman again.”

Holmes pleaded guilty to sexual assault with his defence lawyer, Amy Earnshaw, saying the attack was “completely out of character”.

He said he had been drunk at the time of the incident and had no recollection of it.

Ms Earnshaw said he was “sorry for his actions”.

Belfast Telegraph