A man who disguised himself in a burka before hitting a young woman over the head and attempting to strangle her has had his jail sentence almost doubled after it emerged that he knew his victim.

Hong Nguyen, 24, will now be sentenced to a seven year prison sentence for the December 2014 attack, rather than his previous sentence of four years four months.

August 2015: Burka-disguised man who smashed a woman over the head with a brick jailed for four years

Nguyen chased the woman, who spoke to the Wimbledon Guardian last year under condition of anyonmity, but was named by the Evening Standard today after her name appeared in court papers, along Cairns Avenue, in the Rowan Park estate, Mitcham, before hitting her from behind with a bag containing a brick shortly before midnight.

Karen Wong, 23, was struck on her head, forehead and eye, and Nguyen began strangling her before he was disturbed by a neighbour shouting ‘Oi!’ from a window and ran away.

Nguyen was caught in February 2015 when he returned to the estate dressed in a burka and carrying a plastic bag containing a hammer, and was chased and pinned down by a group of residents who called the police.

He was later charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm in Cairns Avenue and carrying an offensive weapon in Toblin Mews.

Former performing arts student Nguyen, who moved to Mitcham from his family home in Newcomen Road, Leytonstone, in 2013, had claimed that it was a random mugging motivated by his lack of money.

However, the Evening Standard has reported that the woman, who they named as Karen Wong, realised she knew her attacker after seeing a picture of his face in a newspaper report, and believed he held a grudge against her due to a dispute over Facebook.

Sir Brian Leveson, Mr Justice Sweeney and Judge David Griffith-Jones extended the sentence from four years four months to seven years, with an extended four-year license period, at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, March 23.

They also refused an application from the defence to have the sentence reduced.

She was taken to St George’s Hospital in Tooting after the December 6 attack, and suffered such severe bruising and swelling that she was unable to open her eye for two weeks.

May 2015: 'Grateful to be alive' - says young woman attacked with brick by man disguised in burka in Mitcham

Speaking to the Wimbledon Guardian in May 2015 under the condition of anonymity, the woman said: "I thought it was more of a mugging but then when he started strangling me, I was like, now they are trying to kill me?

"I wasn’t really sure what was happening. I thought I was going to pass out, I was so shocked."

She added: "I’m grateful that I’m still alive. It could have been so much worse."