A SWANSEA man who stabbed his girlfriend's son in the stomach, nearly killing him, has been sent to prison for more than seven years.

Alan Thomas Rees knifed 20-year-old Nicholas Rees at a flat in the city's Sketty Park area just after Christmas.

Rees, aged 46, also attacked and injured his 44-year-old girlfriend, Karen Rees, in the terrifying incident at her Clyne Court home.

The former soldier, of Mansel Street in the city centre, was sent down yesterday after pleading guilty to wounding Nicholas Rees with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and causing actual bodily to Karen Rees.

Nicholas Rees was stabbed in the stomach with a 13-inch kitchen knife on December 28, Swansea Crown Court heard. He was rushed to Morriston Hospital and might have died if surgeons had not operated on him so promptly.

The court heard violence erupted after a heated argument between the defendant and Karen Rees when the couple had been drinking cider.

Nicholas Rees lived with his mother, the court heard, and tension in the household was extremely high because the relationship between the couple was deteriorating and the defendant somehow held the 20-year-old responsible for this.

Patrick Griffiths, prosecuting, said Rees had been a frequent visitor to Karen Rees's flat since starting a relationship with her in the summer of 2008.

But there were problems in the relationship and from time to time he would hit her, the court heard

On December 28, after the couple had been bickering with each other, Rees became aggressive, telling her: "The only way you're leaving me is in a wooden box."

In anger he fetched a kitchen knife, pressed it against her throat, then pointed it in the direction of her son's bedroom.

Mr Griffiths said that as Nicholas Rees emerged from his room after hearing the row, the defendant moved towards him, saying: "I'm going to kill you."

The defendant then "punched out" with the knife, stabbing the 20-year-old in the stomach.

Nicholas Rees ran back into his room and tried to hold the door shut, but Rees forced his way in, shouting: "This is your fault. I'm going to kill you."

Karen Rees tried to pull Rees off away from her son, suffering bruises, abrasions and a cut hand in the violent struggle that ensued.

The court heard Nicholas Rees managed to run out of the flat, but he collapsed in agony on the road and his mother feared he had died.

The defendant, who was arrested shortly after going to Mansel Street, claimed in police interviews that Nicholas Rees had "accidentally walked into the knife".

In mitigation, barrister Stephen Rees said of his client, a former military trombonist: "He concedes he intended to cause serious injury, but that intention was spontaneous and relatively short-lived and he is very sorry for what he did."

Judge John Diehl QC, jailing Rees for seven years and four months, said the sentence would have been 11 years if he had contested the case and been found guilty by a jury.