A WOMAN has been jailed after she and and her former boyfriend attacked another man while he sat in his car.

Kerry Jackson and Gary Atherton, who both pleaded guilty to assault and attempted theft, attempted to drag their victim from his car while repeatedly hitting and even trying to bite him, a court heard.

At Bolton Crown Court, Rachael Woods, prosecuting, said Joseph Rotherham was sat in his Vauxhall Astra outside the Premier store on Chorley Old Road with his window down when the incident began.

Mr Rotherham noticed a man and woman who he recognised approaching his car before Atherton lent through the window and demanded £20 he claimed he was owed.

Atherton then opened the driver’s door and tried to drag Mr Rotherham attempting to bite and punch him.

Mr Rotherham fell backwards into the passenger’s footwell as Jackson, 33, began punching him in the head and hitting him with a torch she found in the vehicle.

The court heard two passers-by intervened and Mr Rotherham was able to flee.

Police were able to quickly identify Jackson, known to be limping following a domestic incident a few days earlier, and they were able to arrest both defendants at a house on Battenberg Road, Bolton, a few hours later.

Ms Woods said Mr Rotherham, who was left with cuts to his face, described how the incident had affected him “physically and emotionally” and was left anxious whenever he stopped his car at traffic lights.

Defending Jackson, of Nottingham Drive, Bolton, Nick Ross, said that it would help matters if she could find a permanent home away from Bolton after spells of homelessness.

Marianne Alton, defending, since the offence Atherton, of Battenberg Road, Bolton, had suffered a stroke and now had difficulty walking.

She added: "He has overcome his dependency on alcohol, but any period spent in institutional care would have the effect of further eroding his already diminished living skills."

Sentencing the pair, Recorder Katherine Pierpoint,said: “This is a serious matter where two of you attacked a man on his own who was minding his own business and hostility was show to him because of his sexuality.”

Jackson was jailed for 12 months with Atherton receiving the same sentence, suspended for two years, with 20 rehabilitation activity days and a three month curfew between 8pm and 7am.