Man's GBH sentence cut

A man who admitted carrying out an unprovoked attack which broke a man’s jaw in two places has had his jail term reduced.

Jonathan Birney was jailed by Deemster Montgomery for 27 months in April after admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

He attacked a man in Foxdale in February after drinking five bottles of wine – his seventh violent offence carried, which was carried out while he was serving a suspended sentence for a previous crime.

In an appeal, his advocate Jim Travers argued the jail term imposed had been too long.

Deemster Doyle and Judge of Appeal Tattershall said the starting point for sentencing had been a year too long – and should have been three years in jail instead of four.

They also considered suggestions Birney should have been given a further 10 per cent discount for pleading guilty early in the case – on top of a 30 per cent discount already given by Deemster Montgomery.

But the two judges said they’d balanced the 45-year –old’s mitigating circumstances against his lengthy list of previous convictions.

They reduced Birney’s sentence from 27 months to 22 months, with a further four-month term to run consecutively.