A JUDGE has ordered that a man who attacked a woman with a mallet must be held in a mental hospital after hearing how he was released four times in the space of 12 days.

Kris Chastey subjected his former partner to a harrowing two-hour ordeal in which he battered around the head with a mallet, handcuffed her to her bed and bound her with tape.

The victim and her family were horrified when they learned he was walking free and unescorted from a mental ward just days after be was sent there for the attack.

Doctors at the unit in Somerset decided Chastey posed little risk and allowed him out with staff on three occasions and then on a day's outing with his parents.

Chastey, 30, of Folly Gate, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent to his former partner in an attack at her cottage near Honiton.

Judge Barry Cotter, QC, imposed a simple hospital order last month which allowed doctors to decide when he would be freed.

The judge called the case back to Exeter Crown Court after concerns were raised because Chastey was discovered to have enjoyed unsupervised leave days after being sentenced.

He changed his sentence and imposed a section 41 restriction which means he can only be released by approval of the Secretary of State.

Chastey will now return to the Broadway Health Park in Bridgwater where he is being treated for a schizo-affected psychotic condition which is in part attributable to his abuse of cannabis since he was 13.

In the original hearing, the court was told how Chastey broke into his ex-girlfriend's home in April and attacked her with a mallet as she slept.

Dr John Barnes, the psychiatrist in charge of his care, said he was responding well to treatment and would have been allowed out on supervised visits five months ago if not awaiting sentence.

He said Chastey had three supervised trips into Bridgwater and one trip in which he was not accompanied by hospital staff but was with his parents.

Miss Fiona Elder, defending, said the doctors were unanimous that a restriction was not necessary and any risk could be managed by making a restraining order forbidding contact with the victim.