Woman thrown from moving car after jumping on bonnet following attack from South Shields driver

John Peel, 54, had been giving the female friend a lift home when a row broke out between them and he pulled her hair then hit her.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the victim got out of the vehicle in South Shields town centre then "threw" herself on the bonnet.

When Peel brought the vehicle to a sudden stop, the woman was thrown off.

Prosecutor Paul Cross told the court: "The injured party accepted she jumped on the bonnet, it stopped suddenly and she was thrown off it."

The victim has said in an impact statement she "continues to suffer" because of what happened on the morning of December 17 last year.

She was left with "soreness, bruising and swelling" to her head and hands as a result of the violence inside the car.

Peel, of Grey's Walk, South Shields, admitted assault and dangerous driving.

Mr Recorder Eric Elliott sentenced him to nine months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a three month night-time curfew.

The judge told him: "You drove your friend, following a request from her to drive her home.

"During the course of the journey, an argument developed, during which you assaulted her by pulling her hair and hitting her.

"She then tried to get out of the car and she succeeded in doing so.

"You followed her in your car and she then, the prosecution acknowledge, threw herself onto the bonnet, clinging onto the bonnet for a short distance and was thrown off when you suddenly stopped your vehicle."

Prosecutors had applied for a restraining order to keep Peel away from his victim in future.

But Peel was able to prove, by producing his mobile phone from the dock, that the woman had continued to contact him.

The judge refused to make a restraining order and told Peel: "After having the benefit of seeing your mobile phone, the history indicated, as recently as last week, she has continued to have contact with you."