Jail term cut for "neighbour from hell" granny

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) An 81-year-old British grandmother branded by a judge as ''the original neighbour from hell'' had her jail term cut but lost a bid for freedom because she wouldn't apologise for her actions.

Dorothy Evans, a widow from Wales, was jailed two weeks ago for harassment and breaching an Anti-Social Behaviour Order after repeatedly shouting at her neighbours and hitting them with her walking stick.

Her lawyer said she was attacked in jail by another inmate on Tuesday. She arrived at London's Appeal Court in a wheelchair flanked by three prison officers, with a plaster over one eye.

Appeal Court Judge Nicholas Underhill yesterday cut Evans's six-month sentence by a third but said she must spend at least another four weeks locked up after refusing to apologise.

''Old age is not a licence to disregard the law or the requirements of decent behaviour towards others,'' he said.

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

Defence lawyer David Webster said Evans had experienced ''profound difficulty'' in accepting blame, although she was ''totally sorry to find herself in the situation she does''.

Reuters SZ GC0927