Mum whose eyes were gouged out by partner 'can't believe' prison update

A mum who was savagely attacked and blinded by her monster partner "can't believe" the violent criminal has been moved to a less secure prison and is making another bid for freedom.

Monster Shane Jenkin, now 45, gouged Tina Nash's eyes out in an abhorrent 12-hour attack at her home in Hayle in 2011 while her children were at the property. The mum-of-two was left blinded and recalled how she felt her face to discover her eye hanging out of the socket and "thought she was dead".

The brute was jailed for life at Truro Crown Court in 2012, in what was described as one of the worst cases of domestic abuse the UK has ever seen. Every two years Jenkin has a parole hearing in a bid for freedom. This week Tina, now 44, got a call to tell her the hearing was taking place and she was stunned to find he'd been moved to a lower security prison, and could soon move to an even lower one.

Jenkin, who has been refused parole six times in the past, will know in the next fortnight if his bid to move, or even be released, has been successful. Tina, who still lives in West Cornwall, says she "could not believe it", saying the details heard at his last parole hearing were "horrific" and made her feel she'd be safe for many years to come.

Now she fears this may not be the case. "I didn't expect this yet," she tells Cornwall Live. "I was told it was going to be many, many years before he was released.

"I was told he would be let out when he was geriatric or dying from cancer or something so he can't hurt anyone else. He's just turning 45 and potentially about to be released."

She also "didn't have a clue" he was moved from a high-security Category A prison where male prisoners are deemed to pose the most threat to the public if they were to escape. Instead, she says her liaison officer told her this week that he would be potentially moving to a Category D prison, with minimal security which allows eligible prisoners to spend most of their day away from the prison on licence to carry out work, education or for other resettlement purposes.

Jenkin's last parole hearing in 2022 heard he was deemed not suitable for transfer to open conditions and the panel found he was "appropriately located in custody where outstanding levels of risk could be addressed.”

"I didn't know anything about that hearing," Tina said. "I had to find out about the hearing and the outcome through my sister ringing me up and saying it was all online."

This week she's going through the process a seventh time. "If he ever gets moved or anything I feel I'm supposed to know and I never know anything. I never know where he is but I'm supposed to be informed for my safety of the categories."

She said: "I've been just getting on and going about my life thinking he can't contact me and he's being watched 24/7 but in the space of two years from that hearing, where he clearly wasn't fit to be let out of prison, he's been moved to Category B a long time ago and it also looks like he's going to be getting Category D."

Permanently blinded, Tina says she's been told to prepare for the possibility that Jenkin might be successful in his bid to move prisons this time. "I'm the one who has been sat here in the dark," she said. "It's not right".

Jenkin, 33 at the time of the attack, had a history of criminal convictions for violence and fled the scene but was caught two days later. In a statement read outside court at the time of his sentencing, Tina said she knew Jenkin had tried to kill her that night.

He also broke her nose and fractured her jaw. She said the attack had left her feeling "buried alive, claustrophobic and not in control of my life".

She said then: “It was a week short of a year before Shane decided to plead guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent. This delay I believe to be deliberate as Shane hoped I would give in and back out as I had done previously, and he was happy in the knowledge that he was still controlling my life by doing so."

It's been 13 years and she still doesn't feel safe. "I don't feel safe at all and because he's got family and friends where I live I feel like I've got to walk away and live somewhere else." In a final blow, she said the Parole Board has been encouraging her to be part of a pilot scheme in which victims can attend and hear the offender's parole meeting.

Having built up the courage to see her abuser's face for the first time since his sentencing hearing, she says "the rug was pulled" from her two weeks before the hearing and her application was rejected. "I feel like he's had every little bit of support and I've had absolutely nothing," she continues.

"The only thing I've ever wanted to do is just be a mum and look after my kids and this has all just turned into a circus for me. That was the only thing that was keeping me going and I pride myself on being a good mum."

The Parole Board confirmed a hearing for Shane Jenkin took place on Tuesday, November 12. It said the panel should issue their decision within 14 days of the oral hearing but could not comment outside of that as it's a live judicial process.

A spokesperson also confirmed a pilot scheme has been launched by the Ministry of Justice which allows people who live in the South West or Greater Manchester to apply to observe what are ordinarily private parole hearings. They said the decision on whether or not the victim is allowed to attend is down to the parole board panel chair.

Because the parole review is ongoing it was unable to go into specific reasons why Tina's application was unsuccessful. The Parole Board also confirmed the Victim Contact Scheme run by the probation service is the service that gives victims updates about prisoner parole reviews, not the Parole Board.

The Ministry of Justice, which also responds on behalf of the Probation Service, confirmed that an application was made by the victim to observe the hearing but the Parole Board panel chair refused the request. A spokesperson said: "All requests to observe hearings are subject to a decision by the chair of the panel hearing the case, including those where the victim resides in the pilot area."

On the point of her not being told about any of Jenkin's prison movements, it said: "Victims are not provided with information as to which establishment a prisoner is being held in, so are not told if a transfer occurs. If a prisoner is transferred to open conditions, the victim would be advised but not given any detail of the prison."

This means Tina will only be informed if Jenkin is deemed fit to move to a Category D prison. This would be an open prison with minimal security where prisoners can be trusted not to escape.

Tina, however, remains adamant that her liaison officer has kept her informed about a lack of prison category changes and her abuser's locations from day one of his incarceration, until recent years. She says it's simply not true that the Probation Service does not tell victims this information and that they deserve to know exactly where they are and for how long.