A MAN who abducted a woman and held her prisoner in his Gourock flat has been hammered with a jail sentence of more than three years.

Charles Stewart swore loudly and shouted, 'Grass!' towards his victim as he was led from the dock of Greenock Sheriff Court.

Lawman Andrew McIntyre told the thug — who has a previous conviction for assaulting the woman — that he'd subjected her to a 'terrifying' ordeal.

Stewart, 27, has also been hit with a maximum term non-harassment order, barring him from approaching or contacting the woman, his ex-partner, for five years.

He carried out a string of assaults on the female and threatened to slash his own face and blame it on her if she fled from his Tower Drive flat.

Stewart seized his victim's phone to prevent her from calling for help and even soaked her shoes in his kitchen sink.

The overnight hostage ordeal in August only ended after he fell asleep and the woman grabbed the phone and sent a desperate text message to her mother.

Despite pleading guilty Stewart now refuses to accept responsibility for his actions.

Defence lawyer David Tod told the sentencing hearing: "The matter which will concern the court regarding the background report is his denial of responsibility."

Mr Tod added: "Mr Stewart is someone with genuine mental health difficulties but it is accepted that these have been exacerbated by drug use.

"To give a flavour of the relationship, at the time, the complainer had special bail conditions not to approach or contact him.

"These are perhaps two people neither of whom has an 'off switch' and perhaps should not have been together."

The solicitor pointed out that his client had not inflicted any injuries on the woman.

But Sheriff McIntyre noted: "This was a concerted and sustained course of behaviour, and a plainly terrifying ordeal for the complainer."

The court heard previously how Stewart grabbed a large kitchen knife and told the woman: "If you want to leave then I'll slash my own face and tell the polis it was you and you'll get eight years in the jail."

The victim had taken exception to a video that Stewart had taken of her and posted on Facebook and had made to leave the flat.

He blocked her path and dragged her into the living room by her hair and later presented the blade at he and said: "You better shut up."

Sheriff McIntyre told Stewart that he would have jailed him for four years had he not pleaded guilty, and imposed a 38-month sentence.

The sheriff told him: "The terrifying nature of this offence, over two days, accompanied by various threats, including a knife being presented, make it a plainly terrifying crime and one which has serious consequences — every bit as serious as a physical assault would have been.

"You have a conviction for assaulting the complainer to her injury last year, and the background report says that you are a high risk [of reoffending].

"A prison sentence is absolutely necessary to both safeguard the public and also mark the seriousness of what you did."