A MINEHEAD man has been jailed for four years, eight months for an attack that made his girlfriend believe he was trying to kill her during a camping trip in Devon.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Tyso Baker, 33, of Puffin Close, had drunk a five-litre barrel of extra-strong beer before he attacked her inside their tent.

He tried to throttle her before plunging a steak knife into her back and puncturing a lung. He told her: “You’ll be all right, babe, it’s only a scratch.”

After drinking 5.2 per cent Hobgoblin ale for 14 hours, Baker woke his partner up at 1.30am to accuse her of fancying his brother. He attacked her when she told him to grow up.

The couple had been in a relationship for four months and went on a weekend camping trip to the Axmouth camp site at Seaton, Devon, last July.

Baker brought a five litre keg of Hobgoblin with him and started drinking in the morning of their first full day at the site. 

His girlfriend was asleep in the tent when he attacked her. It was totally dark apart from a faint glow from tea-lights which they had placed around the tent.

Baker admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Judge Timothy Rose told him: “She feared her life was in danger that night. She was inside a small and constrained area with no obvious means of escape and it was in the middle of the night. There has been an ongoing psychological effect on her.”

Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said Baker started drinking from a keg of Hobgoblin at 11am on the morning before the attack and carried on throughout the day.

The victim also had a drink during the evening and was asleep in the tent at 1.30am when she was attacked. He sat next to her, woke her and asked if she preferred his brother Troy to him.

Mr Crabb said: “She told him to grow up and said she didn’t even fancy his brother. He suddenly got on top of her and grabbed her around the throat and squeezed hard.

“She could not breathe and she thought he was going to kill her. She struggled and pushed him off but as she got her shoulders off the ground, she felt a sharp pain and blood running down her back.

“She stumbled to a neighbouring tent to get help. Baker was wandering around and came over to where she was. He put pressure on the wound and said ‘You’ll be all right, babe, it’s only a scratch’.”

In fact, she suffered a punctured lung and spent three days in hospital.

Caighli Taylor, defending, said Baker was diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder after the attack and spent several months in mental hospitals.

She said he is truly remorseful for his behaviour which he struggles to understand.

The judge made an indefinite restraining order banning any future contact between Baker and the victim.