A young man launched a vicious attack on his rival in the early hours after accusing him of talking to his girlfriend, a court heard.

Jay Brown had arranged to meet his friend, Kayleigh Cooper, but when he arrived at her Greenhithe home, Bradley Knapp stepped out wearing a balaclava and attacked him.

Knapp then climbed behind the wheel of Mr Brown’s car and drove him off, telling him: “I am going to take you to the woods to finish you off.”

The unemployed 21-year-old, of Gouge Avenue, Northfleet, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after admitting kidnap and assault.

Prosecutor Paul Valder said the victim and Miss Cooper had a casual relationship and talked on Facebook.

“There are no excuses. I did what I did. Give me my sentence and I will get on and serve it. I know I have done wrong” - Bradley Knapp

After a night out in Gravesend with friends on December 6 last year he contacted her and suggested they met.

She texted her postcode so that he could go to her home. She said she was alone.

Mr Brown arrived in Wakefield Road, Greenhithe, at about 3.15am. Miss Cooper directed him to a parking space under a bridge and said she would meet him there.

But the sinister figure of Knapp appeared. He opened the car door and started punching Mr Brown, telling him: “You have been talking to my girlfriend.”

Knapp took the keys from the ignition. Mr Brown asked for them back and said he would leave. He realised who it was. He had known him from childhood.

Knapp threatened to stab him although a knife was not produced. He kept punching Mr Brown and told him: “We are going for a little drive.”

He sped off to the countryside and Mr Brown thought he was going to be killed.

The victim panicked when he thought the car was going to hit a wall. He pulled up the handbrake and Knapp lost control and hit parked cars.

He ran off leaving Mr Brown injured in the front passenger seat. He was taken to hospital and treated for a suspected fractured cheekbone and bruises.

Mr Valder said when police went to Knapp’s home he threatened violence, and later assaulted a detention officer by spitting at him.

He had previous convictions for actual bodily harm, criminal damage and battery.

Judge Martin Joy told Knapp: “This must have been a terrifying ordeal for Mr Brown. He thought you were going to kill him.”

Lucy Luttman, defending, told the court Knapp suffered from ADHD and dyslexia.

“He says he gets angry,” said Miss Luttman. “He struggles to communicate. He said to me: ‘Speak to me like I am a nine-year-old. I don’t understand your big words.’”

He declared: “There are no excuses. I did what I did. Give me my sentence and I will get on and serve it. I know I have done wrong.”