A bare-chested thug who punched a young woman in the jaw during an attempted car-jacking has been jailed for two years.

Drunk and out of control, Danny Jarvis also threatened to kill Cody McNamara if her boyfriend, Matthew Hogg, did not hand over the keys to his Ford Zetec.

The couple had been confronted by 25-year-old Jarvis as they sat in Station Road, Northfleet, at the rear of Ebbsfleet Grill.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Jarvis, who has 23 previous convictions for 47 offences, repeatedly demanded the car and also punched Mr Hogg to his face.

The attempted robbery in September last year was only thwarted when Miss McNamara managed to phone her father, Mark, who came to their assistance.

The court heard there was a scuffle between Jarvis and Mr McNamara before Jarvis fled.
However, he scaled a rooftop and initially refused police attempts to come down, stating he would prefer to jump.

Jailing him, Judge Jeremy Carey said he had behaved in a wholly frightening and erratic way.

He added that he accepted Jarvis had not deliberately set about assaulting Miss McNamara but struck her violently to the jaw, causing significant bruising, as he tried to punch his way into the car.

The experience for the couple, said Judge Carey, would have been terrifying.

“It is impossible to re-enact in a courtroom the impact of your type of offending on people going about their law-abiding lives.

“To see it enacted on TV or at the cinema is one thing; to experience it is another.”

"It is impossible to re-enact in a courtroom the impact of your type of offending on people going about their law-abiding lives" - Judge Jeremy Carey

Jarvis, of St Alban’s Close, Gravesend, admitted attempted robbery, assaulting Miss McNamara causing her actual bodily harm and common assault on Mark McNamara.

The court was told Mr Hogg did not have time to lock his car doors before Jarvis yanked open the driver’s side, told the couple to get out and then demanded: “Give me your car.”

He then tried to grab Miss McNamara’s phone as she went to call police.

Prosecutor Lucie Stoker said Jarvis then assaulted the pair. “He leant over Mr Hogg and punched Miss McNamara in the face and caught the right side of her cheek.

“When Mr Hogg attempted to protect Miss McNamara, Jarvis told them; ‘I want your car. If you don’t give it to me in five seconds I will knock your head off and kill your girlfriend.’

“He then started to punch Mr Hogg about the face repeatedly and was saying: ‘Give me the car.’.”

At one stage Jarvis even suggested they drove him to a garage, before Mr McNamara, alerted by his daughter, arrived to help.

Samantha Bonner, defending, said the trigger for Jarvis’ “extremely chaotic and awful“ behaviour that night was a rumour about his girlfriend being unfaithful.

Other than that, said Miss Bonner, his recollection was limited, although he was “disgusted” by what he had done.

She also told the court that Jarvis, who classes himself as an alcoholic, had grown up amid domestic violence and by the age of 12 had lived at 34 different addresses, many of them women’s refuges.

“It was an extremely traumatic time which has gone on into his adult years,” added Miss Bonner. “It still affects him greatly.”

Jarvis initially pleaded guilty to common assault but denied the more serious offences. However, he admitted these on the day his trial was due to start.

His previous convictions include threatening behaviour, assaulting police and battery.