A YOUNG man dubbed a "cowardly drunken lout" by a judge after he was involved in a town centre gang attack, yesterday had his sentence reduced at London's Criminal Appeal Court.

Wayne William Johnson, 21, joined the attack on a man - who was already on the ground being kicked by five others - after realising the victim had bullied him at school.

Johnson, of Washington Crescent, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, was sentenced to 12 months in prison in December after pleading guilty to affray.

Lord Justice Potter said he viewed the revenge motive as an aggravating, rather than a mitigating feature of the case.

But he agreed to cut the sentence to nine months on the basis of Johnson's previous good character, work record, and his good behaviour while in prison.

The court heard that in January last year, Johnson emerged from the Acorn Pub in Newton Aycliffe, to see a man being kicked on the ground by five others.

Looking closer, he realised that the victim was a man who had bullied him at school for two years, and he took the opportunity to join in, said Lord Justice Potter.

The six all received 12-month sentences. Helen Gamble, for Johnson, argued that the judge should have made some distinction between him and the others because he had not been in on the start of attack and he was motivated by revenge against a bully.