A DRUG addict who made a woman walk the streets to fund his habit has been put behind bars for two years.

Burnley Crown Court heard Imran Saddique frightened his victim into becoming a prostitute - and was said to have told her not to return home until she had earned £40.

Saddique, 34, also beat up the woman twice, giving her two black eyes, and told her she smelled and demanded she have a bath. The defendant had seven previous convictions for violence.

Judge Raymond Bennett told him he had considered giving him a longer sentence to protect the public from serious harm. He said Saddique would have been sent to prison for three years if he had not owned up, adding that it was a serious thing to make a woman become a prostitute through fear.

The defendant was warned if he got any more convictions for violence he was more than likely to receive a longer than normal sentence.

Saddique, of Cleaver Street, Burnley, admitted procuring the woman to become a common prostitute and allegations of assault causing actual bodily harm, between last July and January this year.

Louise Whaites, prosecuting, said on one occasion the defendant had slapped her across the face five or six times. The victim apologised and was crying and frightened but Saddique told her he did not know anybody as dirty as her.

The prosecutor said the woman was saying things she thought Saddique wanted to hear to stop him hitting her. She suffered two black eyes and a bruised jaw, but she did not go for any medical help.