Indefinite Jail For Man Who Blinded Girlfriend

A man who gouged out his girlfriend's eyes during a savage attack has been jailed indefinitely.

Powerfully-built Shane Jenkin, 33, also throttled Tina Nash unconscious and broke her jaw and nose.

Efforts to save the sight in one of 31-year-old's eyes failed and she was left completely blind.

Jenkin, of Sea Lane, Hayle, Cornwall, admitted a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent last month but denied a charge of attempted murder.

He was handed an indeterminate sentence by a judge at Truro Crown Court for the attack at Ms Nash's home in Hayle in April last year.

The judge set a minimum jail term of six years and made a "hybrid order" that Jenkin should be detained at a secure psychiatric hospital.

Jenkin, who is 6ft 4ins tall, had refused to attend court.

Details of his explosive, unpredictable temper emerged as Ms Nash spoke movingly last month of how her life had been wrecked.

Jenkin was banned from Penzance pubs for five years after attacking a policeman in early 2010.

The mother-of-two, whose children were aged 13 and three at the time of the attack, said she was glad Jenkin had "at least taken responsibility for changing my life forever".

She said: "I truly feel that, when he was strangling me, he was trying to murder me.

"He has taken everything from me and robbed me of one of the most precious things in life - my sight.

"I miss the things which people take for granted the most, such as seeing the sky and the sea."