A HARROWING tape of a Kidderminster woman begging for help was played during a case heard at Worcester Crown Court.

Angela Harris dialled 999 on her mobile phone after her boyfriend William Carwood grabbed her by the throat and refused to let her leave his home.

She had undergone a throat cancer operation a few months before the incident which came at the end of a stormy 10-month relationship, said Simon Davis, prosecuting.

A row blew up over a pre-booked holiday and the couple fell onto the floor in the struggle.

Recorder Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC heard Miss Harris, recorded by a police operator, sobbing uncontrollably. She screamed: "Let me go home. I want to go home."

The couple ended up in the garden and were sitting on a bench talking when police arrived and arrested the defendant.

Carwood, 52, of Upton Road, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment. Charges of making a threat to kill and common assault were left to lie on the prosecution file.

Carwood was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 costs and the victim £500 compensation.