A man described as 'every woman's nightmare' is today starting a jail sentence after he admitting attempting to rape a woman on a night out in Norwich.

Fuad Ramadan Mahmoud, 23, grabbed the victim and tried to rape her in the community gardens beside Rose Lane Car Park behind Tudor Hall, formerly the Peppermint Park nightclub.

The woman, aged in her 30s, had been for a night out in the city with her friend when they became separated as she made her way home.

She was approached by Mahmoud shortly after 3am when he dragged her into a nearby community garden, pushed her onto a chair and assaulted her.

But the victim bravely fought back, scratching his face and screaming out for help, and Mahmoud left the scene.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sought help from occupants of a passing car who called the police.

Mahmoud, of Sleaford Green, Norwich, appeared at Norwich Crown Court to be sentenced yesterday having previously admitted attempted rape.

Sentencing him to three and a half years in prison, Judge Stephen Holt said it was 'every woman's nightmare' to be grabbed in the street at night and attacked.

He said: 'It's every woman's nightmare to meet someone like you on a dark alleyway in the middle of the night.'

A victim personal statement read out in court heard the attack has had a 'radical affect' on her life and meant she had to resign from her job due to the anxiety and depression she had experienced since.

It stated that the attack had 'changed her life completely and ripped it apart'.

Michael Clare, for Mahmoud, accepted the incident must have been 'horrific' for the victim but said 'it was not something the defendant had brought about by design'.

He said the defendant, who was lonely and had been drinking, 'either deliberately or by accident misinterpreted the situation he found himself in'.

Mahmoud, an Eritrean national, was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.