A FATHER who kept a handgun and bullets in his shed stamped on his wife’s head because she had previously had a brain haemorrhage, a court heard.

Graham Carver, 37, was yesterday jailed for three years and five months and given a restraining order not to contact her for an indefinite period.

The father-of-one, of Walpole St Andrew, had admitted common assault and possessing a firearm without a licence and ammunition on October 7. He had a conviction of battery against his wife.

Rachel Cushing, prosecuting, said: “They had an argument, and he punched her in the face.

“He tried to strangle her with the toggles from her coat, bashed her head against a wall, and stamped on her head three times while she was sprawled on the floor.

“She said in a statement she believed he had targeted blows to her head because he knew she had suffered a brain haemorrhage three years before.”

Carver, found unconscious in his garden after apparently trying to kill himself, was arrested. Police found ammunition and a handgun in his shed the following day.

Andrea Clarke, for Carver, said: “He is remorseful and understands the family won’t in essence exist again.”

The gun was a former paintball marker he converted as a teenager, and did not know it was prohibited.