A man who repeatedly punched a woman in the head before dragging her along the pavement by her hair in a sickening assault has been jailed.

Andrew Akingbaje, 24, was branded ‘dangerous to women’ at Inner London Crown Court after admitting the attack on the 21-year-old outside a club in south London in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

The attack was caught on camera outside the Clapham venue. Akingbaje can be seen raining down punches on the woman head before running off.

In another attack, which happened moments before, he punched his victim several times before dragging her along the pavement by her hair.

The woman now suffers panic attacks and says she has been ‘too frightened to go out in London since’.

The fracas began after a group of women wearing blue wigs, approached Akingbaje following a petty row with the woman and her friends over queue jumping which escalated.

Patricia May, prosecuting, told Inner London Crown Court the woman had been out with three friends.

At around 3am, the group were crossing a road when the defendant came up and punched the woman several times, causing her to fall to the ground.

“Her friends tried to rescue her, but in the course of fending them off he hit both of them as well and then dragged [the woman] along the ground,” the prosecutor said.

She managed to get up from the ground and a street warden grabbed her.

Ms May added:

“While she was being held the defendant handed his mobile phone to another person, then came right up to her as she was being held and punched her very viciously on the face several times.”

The attack left the woman with bruises on her face and arms grazed legs. Doctors feared she may have had a concussion.

In a statement read by Ms May, the victim said:

“My face took a couple of weeks to heal. It hurt to put my clothing on.

“For the first couple of weeks it hurt when I bathed. I was upset for a week constantly. I would break down into tears. If someone brought it up to me I would get very upset and cry.

“I would have flashbacks that mimicked him hitting me that would wake me up. I had a panic attack when I went out the next time. I have not been out in London since.”

Akingbaje previously admitted ABH but disputed some facts, claiming he had been provoked and spat on by the victim.

The court heard the father-of-one, from Brixton, was on Charlton Athletic’s radar.

Bethany Condron, in mitigation, said:

“He accepts that there were two assaults and he accepts responsibility for them.”

Two other counts of assault by beating against two of the woman’s friend were ordered to lie on file.

Sentencing Akingbaje to 32 months in prison, Judge Mark Bishop branded him a ‘danger to women’.

He added:

“I have seen the film and it’s a chilling piece of violence against a woman.

“On January 31, you pleaded guilty to this count but on a limited basis, claiming that the victim had been assaulted before and you weren’t responsible for those injuries and that she tried to attack you and she had spat at you.

“That basis of plea was not accepted by the prosecution.

“You then confirmed in open court that you were pleading guilty in a full facts basis, in other words that you were not maintaining your previous plea.

“However, in a pre-sentence report after that, I read that you were maintaining to the probation officer that same version of events minimising your culpability.

“That demonstrates a continuing lack of insight into your continuing violent behaviour towards a woman.

“I, therefore, do find that expression of remorse particularly persuasive.”

He said he had previously spent 13 months in a young offenders institution and was jailed for 18 months in 2017 for wounding his partner.

The judge added:

“I’m satisfied that you do pose a serious risk, particularly towards women. You are dangerous to women, in my judgement.”