A mother has revealed the shocking injuries she suffered when her son stabbed her in the neck, ear and back while she cooked him dinner.
Barbara Jarman, 56, luckily survived the horror attack but was millimetres from death after Jack Jarman, 25, stabbed her in the neck - just missing a main artery.
He also swung at his mum's head with a roasting tray.
In 2018, Jack was made the subject of a hospital order after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Three years on, Barbara from Colchester, Essex, is speaking out to raise awareness of mental health conditions that are left undiagnosed.
The mother-of-six, says: "It saddens me that my own son was capable of hurting me so violently.
"If he'd gotten the help for his mental health as a child, I'm sure this could have been avoided.
"I don't forgive him for what he did, but he's still my son, and I'll still love him."
WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW
In October 2015, Jack, then 19, was jailed for six years at Canterbury Crown Court for wounding with intent after stabbing a man over a drug dispute.
Barbara hoped the time inside would help him turn his life around.
She says: "When Jack was a teenager, he fell into the wrong crowd and started using drugs.
"I warned him it'd get him into trouble, but he didn't listen.
"Then he stabbed a man and ended up in prison.
"I told him to clean his act up."
While inside, Jack undertook a gardening course and planned to become a gardener upon his release.
In April 2018, his sentence was up and he promised his mum, Barbara, that he wouldn't go back to his old life of crime.
She says: "He was excited to start work as a gardener, and helped me to build a vegetable patch in my garden.
"We'd spend a lot of time together and he seemed happy and wasn't using drugs.
"Jack seemed like a changed man."
Then, a month later in May, Jack was visiting his mum, when he started acting paranoid.
He claimed that the police were flying drones over the house.
Barbara says: "He was acting strangely and I told him to stop being daft.
"Dinner was almost ready, so I called him to come and eat."
Moments later, Jack appeared from the other side of the house stark naked.
He ran past his mum and opened the knife drawer.
Barbara says: "Out of nowhere, Jack lunged at me and stabbed me in the neck.
"In shock, I fell to the floor.
"Then he stabbed me another five times in the ear and back."
Eventually, the knife snapped and Jack fetched a hefty roasting tray from the kitchen and swung it into his mum's head.
Barbara says: "I thought he was going to kill me.
"There was blood everywhere."
After a few minutes, Barbara's then husband disturbed the attack and managed to pull Jack off his mum.
While her husband phoned for an ambulance, Jack fled out the back door.
Barbara was rushed via ambulance to Colchester Hospital A&E where a doctor told her she was lucky to be alive as the neck wound was just millimetres from a main artery.
Meanwhile, Jack was found and arrested.
Barbara says: "I was hysterical, I couldn't believe my son had nearly killed me.
"I didn't see it coming. I was a complete mess."
Soon after, Jack was assessed and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and in October 2018, was made the subject of a hospital order.
Barbara says: "He's told me he's sorry, but I can't forgive him right now.
"I can't hear out of my left ear, and suffer numbness in my back.
"I don't think anyone will ever be able to help my son and it breaks my heart."
