A VALE teenager, jailed for the "vicious" robbery of a student returning home from a night out, has had his sentence reduced at London's Appeal Court.

Grenville Kember, aged 19, of Stonebow Road, Drakes Broughton, was handed a four-year sentence at Worcester Crown Court in June after he pleaded guilty to robbery.

But Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Simon and Mr Justice Bean at London's Appeal Court last Thursday cut that to three-and-a-half years - ruling his "relative youth" made the original term "manifestly excessive".

The judge said the attack took place in the early hours of November 5 2003 as the victim was returning home after a night out drinking in the town centre.

As he neared his house, Kember and an accomplice grabbed the victim from behind and flung him to the ground before launching a vicious assault in which they rained kicks onto his prone body.

Kember then searched the student's pockets and removed his wallet before the attackers were chased away by the landlord of a nearby pub.

The two robbers were spotted fleeing the scene and getting into a taxi which was stopped by police a short time later.

When arrested, Kember was found in possession of the victim's National Union of Students card and admitted to the attack a short time later.

Agreeing to cut the jail term, Lord Justice Kennedy said: "While recognising the seriousness of the offence - a vicious attack on a young man at night - in our view the sentence was longer than it needed to be in the case of a defendant of this age where no weapon was used.

"We are therefore minded to quash the sentence of four years and replace it with one of three-and-a-half years."