An amateur ice skater who fled to Hong Kong before his trial for raping a child has had six months wiped off his jail term.

Joseph Tsang reportedly flew to his native Hong Kong disguised as his sister – although he later denied it – then lived in hiding until an old school friend tipped off the Mail on Sunday who in turn informed Interpol.

He was arrested and, months later, deported to the UK where he admitted what Judge Patrick Eccles QC branded a ‘determined and outrageous breach of bail’.

READ MORE: Judge extends jail term for bail-jumping rapist Joseph Tsang

Tsang, who in 2009 appeared alongside pro skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean on ITV’s Dancing on Ice, was found guilty in January 2015 of inciting a girl under-16 to engage in sexual activity, sexual activity with a child under-16 and making indecent images of children and bailed.

Shortly before a second trial in August that year, when he was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl he met on Facebook and molesting a 14-year-old girl he had met through the ice rink, he fled the country.

Tsang was found guilty in his absence and, later, labelled a ‘sexual predator’ by the judge who gave him a 15 year jail term. That sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal, which disagreed with Tsang’s lawyer’s claims the 15 year term was too tough.

In March 2016, when Tsang returned before Oxford Crown Court, his barrister claimed that the ice skater had not escaped by impersonating his sister but, instead, had gone to Hong Kong as his mother was seriously ill.

Judge Eccles imposed an additional six month jail term for the breach of bail.

But at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday (March 15), Lord Justice Holroyde quashed Tsang’s conviction – wiping six months from his overall jail sentence.

They also ordered that 100 days spent on electronic tag awaiting his trial and the time Tsang spent in a Hong Kong jail awaiting extradition should be taken into account by the prison governor in calculating when the child sex offender could be released.

Tsang appeared at the Royal Courts of Justice via video link from HMP Leyhill, in Gloucestershire, wearing a striped jumper and a red-and-black lumberjack-style jacket.

The matter was referred to the appeal court last year by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates miscarriages of justice.

The CCRC said that during its review of the case it discovered that the authorities in Hong Kong had not given consent for Tsang to be prosecuted for failing to surrender to custody, making his conviction for the offence unlawful.

Last year, CCRC chairman Helen Pitcher said: “Miscarriages of justice are not just limited to wrongful convictions. Sentencing can be a very technical exercise and mistakes are sometimes made.

“It is important, both to individuals and the Criminal Justice System as a whole, that errors are identified and put right.”