A jilted lover jailed for a savage attack on his ex-girlfriend has won a reduction in his prison sentence.

Gavin Ward, 28, of Blacksmiths Meadow, Oxford, had admitted grievous bodily harm and causing criminal damage to her home worth £1,600.

He was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court to three years' imprisonment for the assault and a further six months for criminal damage.

His sentence was reduced by three months at London's Criminal Appeal Court this week.

Mr Justice Douglas Brown told the court that Ward and the woman had been together for a few months before she finished the relationship - prompting the attack at her home on October 27, 1997.

Ward swung an iron bar at the woman, breaking her elbow which needed surgery. He then went around smashing up the woman's house.

His lawyers argued his total sentence should be reduced to three years as it was 'manifestly excessive'.

The judge halved Ward's sentence on the criminal damage count and said the maximum that should have been imposed was three months.

This will still run consecutively to the three-year sentence.

Story date: Saturday 27 February

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