by staff reporter

Last updated at 11:44, Friday, 05 March 2010

A Maryport man jailed indefinitely for trying to rob a Goth – because of the way he looked – has been freed on appeal after senior judges overturned his indefinite jail term.

Shane Little, 23, of Ewanrigg Road, admitted attempted robbery at Carlisle Crown Court in September 2005 and was detained indefinitely by Judge Barbara Forrester for public protection – something the Appeal Court in London said yesterday was “wrong in principle.”

Almost identical to a life term, the sentence meant Little would only ever be freed if he could convince the Parole Board he no longer posed a danger to society.

But top judges freed him yesterday after overturning the open-ended sentence and replacing it with a conventional 18-month term.

Mr Justice Collins told London’s Criminal Appeal Court that Little threatened George Hayton, who had dreadlocks, as he walked along the main street in Workington. During the April 2005 incident, Little told Mr Hayton he was going to stab him and smash a picture over his head.

“He took the view that Mr Hayton was not someone whose appearance should be tolerated,” the judge said.

Little was arrested shortly afterwards and a knife was found hidden in the flat to which he had fled.

The court heard that, during his more than four years in custody, he had begun to realise his approach to life had to change. He had previously applied for parole in 2006, but was refused.

His previous convictions included one for affray in 2004.

Giving his judgement, Mr Justice Collins, who sat with Lord Justice Stanley Burnton and Mr Justice Davis, said the most recent report on Little was “somewhat more encouraging”.

“We are clearly of the view that this was a sentence that was wrong in principle at the time it was imposed,” he concluded, allowing the appeal.

First published at 11:24, Friday, 05 March 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk