A MAN has been jailed for more than eight years for attacking a friend with a metal bar and hitting him over the head with a rock after stealing money he was saving to pay for his baby’s headstone, a court heard.

Ben Frost, 28, who was under the influence of drugs, stole a bottle of coins that the neighbour and his partner were collecting to honour their infant who had died a few months before.

Frost then put the bar across Shaun McClaughlin’s throat and tried to strangle him in the quiet village of Buckland Monachorum, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Frost, who was wearing his victim’s stolen trainers, twice hit him around the head so hard his skull was exposed. He later could not explain why he had burgled the cottage of the home in Buckland Monachorum.

Police later found the stolen coins hidden in a duvet at the defendant’s home.

Judge Paul Darlow jailed Frost for a total of eight years and two months. He said he did not know whether defendant knew the money in the bottle was for a purpose — but he said that was the risk burglars took.

The judge added: ‘You are a man with numerous convictions for violence, sometimes under the influence of drink and drugs at the time. You used a metal bar and rock as weapons and hit him so hard his skull was visible.’

Frost, formerly of The Village in Buckland Monachorum, pleaded guilty to assaulting Shaun McClaughlin with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on June 18.

He changed his plea after prosecutors agreed not to pursue a more serious charge of attempted murder to trial.

Frost had previously admitted to burglary of Mr McClaughlin’s cottage.

Nick Lewin, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Mr McClaughlin and his partner returned home with their four children that night to find the cottage had been burgled.

Mr Lewin said among the missing items was a large vodka bottle the couple were filling with coins to pay for the headstone for their baby who had died a few months before.

The court heard the home smelt of cannabis and the intruder had left an empty pint glass behind. Mr Lewin said that earlier villagers had seen Frost carrying a large bottle and a pint glass.

He added that Mr McClaughlin, in his mid-30s, walked to the nearby home where Frost lived with his grandmother.

Mr Lewin said Mr McClaughlin challenged Frost, who threw a stick at him and ran away.

Mr McClaughlin took his family to the nearby Drake Manor Inn and walked to Frost’s home.

He added that Frost swung a metal bar and hit Mr McClaughlin on the back of the head.

Mr Lewin said: ‘He shouted threats at him, saying he did not know who he was messing with. He got him on the floor and effectively tried to strangle him by putting a metal bar across his throat.’

Mr McClaughlin got hold of the bar and managed to throw it aside but Mr Lewin said Frost picked up a rock or stone and hit his neighbour twice on the forehead.

The court that he needed 30 internal and external stitches in hospital.

The court heard Frost was in breach of a suspended prison sentence after a siege at his partner’s home in January last year.

He clambered on to the roof of a house wearing just his slippers in a 10-hour siege.

After the sentencing, a spokesperson for Tavistock Police said: ‘We would like to thank the residents of Buckland Monachorum for their help with various enquiries and for the witnesses coming forward.

‘A quick and thorough investigation by local officers meant that evidence and key witnesses were identified promptly and the offender was quickly arrested and subsequently charged.’