A MAN who tried to kidnap a woman as she made her way home from her 30th birthday celebrations is facing jail.

Jason Emminson spotted Monika Skurzokova in Wood Street, Walthamstow, as she took a shortcut to her home at 2.40am.

The 25-year-old crept up behind her as she chatted with a friend on a mobile phone and forced her into his Mitsubishi Shogun.

The brave birthday girl managed to fend off her attacker by hitting him between the legs with the phone.

The attack was witnessed by a couple living in a nearby flat, who noted down the registration number of his 4x4.

Prosecutor Brian Argyle said: "She was walking on the pavement when she was grabbed from behind.

"A man's hand came over her shoulder and the forearm round her neck. She was held so tightly she couldn't breath.

"She could feel the man's breath in her ear and she was dragged backwards."

When Emminson noticed the couple watching him, he shouted: 'She's my girlfriend.'

As she fled from the car, he yelled: "How could you do this to me after all these years?"

Police spotted Emminson a few days later driving in the same street.

When challenged he tried to distance himself from the vehicle by claiming it belonged to his father, who had recently died.

In interview Emminson said he was not the driver on the night of the attack and he had been out with his flatmate Darren Land and his girlfriend Gemma Mead.

He claimed they had been in the pub together until Mr Land, who had keys to the Shogun, left at 2am and he stayed in the pub with Miss Mead until 3am.

But when police checked CCTV from the nearby Duke's Head pub it showed the account to be false.

Miss Skurzokova later picked out Emminson as her attacker during an identity parade.

Fibres from the green fleece she was wearing were also recovered from the back seat of the 4x4.

Emminson, of Walnut Court, Vallentin Road, Walthamstow, denied one count of attempted kidnap, but he was unanimously convicted by the Old Bailey jury.

Judge Giles Forrester QC said: 'You have been convicted by the jury on, if I may say, clear evidence of this serious offence.

He will be sentenced on April 24.