Matthew Ward: Sheffield man, 20, chased woman down and strangled her before she fought him off

Matthew Ward, of Wilfred Drive, Darnall, subjected his victim to a terrifying ordeal as she was going home from a night out in Nottingham city centre.

Nottinghamshire Police today described how the 20-year-old followed the woman as she walked alone up towards the front of the city’s famous castle in an incident at around 1.15am on February 13 this year.

Ward - who had travelled on a train to Nottingham from Sheffield hours earlier – then called out to the woman after she spotted him.

When his shouts were ignored, Ward responded by chasing his victim up the hill and striking her in the head when he managed to catch up with her.

After knocking the woman down, he then pinned her to the floor and made attempts to suffocate her for around ten seconds.

However, she managed to fight him off and run away from Ward, who briefly chased after her again, before turning and walking away back towards the city centre.

A passing motorist at that point stopped to help the victim, who had sustained multiple bruises during the attack.

The police were notified soon afterwards and quickly managed to track Ward down and arrest him in nearby Friar Lane.

He would go on to be charged with intentional suffocation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ward pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on May 28.

He was sentenced to 22 months in a young offenders' institution.

Detective Sergeant Andrew Pym, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I’d like to firstly praise the bravery of the victim in finding the strength to immediately report what happened to her to the police.

“The speed which she did this meant our officers were able to take immediate action and track down Matthew Ward before he could hurt anyone else.

“By complete way of contrast, her attacker’s despicable actions were that of a coward, with Ward running after and hitting her from behind as she was walking home alone.

“He then pinned her down in the street and tried to suffocate her for several seconds, before she managed to fight him off and raised the alarm.

“I can only imagine how scary this must’ve been for the victim.

“Ward elected to inflict this experience on her and as such can have no complaints whatsoever for the spell he will now have to spend behind bars."