A MAN has been jailed for holding a terrified woman captive in his flat and dragging her by the hair from the window when she tried to escape.

Carl Bancroft hid the key to his home in Bolton Lane, Bradford, and warned his victim: “If you shout out of that window again, I’m going to kill you,” Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Bancroft, 55, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment on January 19 and common assault on the woman the previous day.

He was locked up for 13 months by Recorder Darren Preston who said: “Domestic violence causes people to feel trapped, helpless and worthless.”

Bancroft continued to play down what he had done and had not accepted full responsibility for his actions.

Prosecutor Camille Morland told the court that the woman had a brief relationship with Bancroft but they never lived together and things soon turned sour.

On January 18, she went to his flat because he said he had no money for food, drink and electricity.

He hit her twice in the face after they had both been drinking and he had smoked cannabis.

At 2am the next morning they argued again and Bancroft became abusive.

When she wanted to leave, he said: “You can go home when I’m ready.”

He hid the key to the first floor flat and dragged her by the hair when she wanted to escape by the window.

Bancroft shut the curtains and she estimated it was around four hours before a passer-by heard her shouting from the window for help.

Bancroft came up behind her, dragged her away and put his hand over her mouth.

He shouted to the man in the street: “There’s nothing wrong with her, f*** off.”

But the man alerted the police and they arrived to find the security gate locked.

The woman was crying and had “numerous bruises” to her arms and face.

Bancroft had scratches and a bruised eye, Miss Morland said.

He accused the woman of lying and claimed he just pulled her back from the window.

He said both of them were heavily intoxicated and she had hit him.

The court heard he had no previous convictions for violence and had not troubled the courts for 17 years.

Christopher Styles, Bancroft’s barrister, said he was a hard-working forklift truck driver and labourer and had the support of his family.

He no longer lived at the flat and had other accommodation available to him elsewhere in the country.

Mr Styles said that while Bancroft had been held in prison on remand he had addressed his issues with alcohol and cannabis.

But Recorder Preston said the woman would have felt “constantly in fear” while locked in the flat for hours.