A MAN who caused life-threatening injuries to a disabled victim who accused him of plotting to burgle his home has had his jail sentence cut.

Peter Dakin, 27, of Thorpe Street, Easington Colliery, County Durham, was jailed for seven years at Durham Crown Court after pleading guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

But the Criminal Appeal Court, in London, yesterday cut his term to five years, after concluding he should have been sentenced on the basis that the victim initially held a craft knife towards Dakin's throat.

Mr Justice Henriques, sitting with Lord Justice Scott Baker and Judge Tom Crowther, said Dakin was unaware that his victim suffered from muscular dystrophy

The court heard that at about 7pm on July 26 last year, the 39-year-old victim turned up at Dakin's home and accused him and his girlfriend of loitering at his home earlier that day with a view to burgling him.

According to Dakin, the victim produced a craft knife and held it towards his neck. He disarmed the man, but he fell over and Dakin kicked him a number of times.

When admitted to hospital, the victim was unconscious and had extensive bruising to his head, neck and chest, fractures to his cheek bones, three broken ribs and a torn lung.

The hearing was told the victim was put on a respirator and was in intensive care for more than two weeks.

"The production or otherwise of the knife by the victim was necessarily a critical factor in the sentencing process," Mr Justice Henriques said.

He said it was not possible to deduce if the judge had accepted Dakin's version, and so ordered that the sentence should be cut.