ASBO granny's jail term cut

LONDON (Reuters) - An 81-year-old grandmother, branded by a judge "the original neighbour from Hell", had her jail term for harassing her neighbours in south Wales cut by London's Appeal Court on Wednesday.

Dorothy Evans, who has been attacked by another prison inmate and suffered cuts to her face this week, had her six-month prison sentence shortened by two months.

However she must spend at least another four weeks locked up after refusing to apologise for her actions.

"Old age is not a licence to disregard the law or the requirements of decent behaviour towards others in the community," said Mr Justice Underhill.

Evans, a widow from Abergavenny, was jailed two weeks ago at Cardiff Crown Court for offences of harassment and breaches of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order.

Her campaign against neighbours Angela and Roberto Casa included shouting abuse and hitting them with her walking stick.

In sentencing her, Judge Roderick Denyer said he took into account her age and would have jailed her for much longer if she had been younger.

She arrived at the Appeal Court in a wheelchair flanked by three prison officers, with a plaster over one eye and using a hearing aid to listen to the proceedings.

Her lawyer David Webster said she had been attacked on Tuesday by another inmate at Eastwood Park Prison in Gloucestershire.