A MAN from Corwen who left a woman and two children fighting for their lives after stabbing them repeatedly in a cocaine-fuelled “brutal, sustained attack” has been jailed.

Ryan Wyn Jones, 27, of Clawdd Poncen, was handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 20 years, at Mold Crown Court today (December 8).

He had previously admitted two charges of attempted murder, and one count each of unlawful wounding and possession of a bladed article.

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Prosecuting, Caroline Rees KC told the court that, early on May 5, Jones attacked his victims with such force that the tip of the knife he used was left lodged in the skull of the woman.

She suffered more than 30 separate stab wounds, causing life-threatening injuries, with Jones said to have been laughing throughout the attack.

Jones eventually left, “essentially leaving her for dead”, Ms Rees said.

When Jones fled the scene, he took the woman’s mobile phone with him, before disposing of it into an embankment.

He was found by police sat on a bench, crying and covered in blood, while a holding kitchen knife which he then relinquished at officers’ requests.

Officers arrested him at 3.30am that day – while being swabbed, he told an officer: “Yeah, it was me, OK?”

Jones then refused to give officers a blood sample until 5pm that day.

He was interviewed on numerous occasions between May 5 and 7; when asked what happened, he answered: “I don’t really know, to be honest.”

Though Jones accepted using a knife, when police pressed him on this, he suggested that the officers “just move on”.

In later interviews, he gave no comment.

The woman underwent a blood transfusion, having sustained multiple wounds to her head, neck and chest.

She had a 10-hour operation under general anaesthetic, and was placed in an induced coma; she was not discharged until May 17, which was 12 days after the attack.

Her injuries were considered life-threatening, and she remains under the care of a consultant neurologist.

The cognitive impairment she has suffered from the attack was said to be similar to that found in people with dementia, meanwhile.

Both children were also admitted to hospital as a result of the injuries they sustained.

In a statement, the woman said that the “physical and psychological scars” she has suffered from the attack will “live with me forever”.

She recalls waking up in hospital “covered in bandages”, and said she feels “incredibly lucky to be alive”.

Extracts from a further statement, provided by a relative of the woman, read: “That night will forever be scorched into our memories as one of the worst days of our lives.

“It’s my opinion that Ryan had every intention to kill them. I think Ryan’s actions that night were pure evil, and I’ll never forgive him.”

Defending Jones, who had four previous convictions for five offences, Gordon Cole KC accepted there is “no mitigation as to the facts of the case”.

Mr Cole said Jones has “repeatedly” expressed remorse for his actions, and “knows he is going to spend a long time in prison”.

Jones has not been diagnosed with any psychiatric disorders; rather, Mr Cole said, it is “alcohol and drugs which seem to be the background to what took place”.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Martin Griffiths told Jones he is a “violent” and “vindictive” man who “gratuitously degraded” the woman in his attack.

He added to him: “It is difficult in words to convey the horror and the depravity of what you did that night.

“It is a miracle that no-one died.”

Jones will also pay a £228 statutory surcharge upon his release, while the knife was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.

Restraining orders were also issued.

Speaking after sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Myfanwy Kirkwood said: “We welcome the sentence that His Honour Mr Justice Griffiths has handed down today.

“The crimes that Ryan Jones committed were truly horrific and the ordeal of terror that his victims went through is something that no person should ever have to experience.

“Ryan Jones’ actions will have a lasting impact on his victims, and I commend their bravery in coming forward to seek justice.”