A YOUTH who was part of a gang that battered a man and left him with a broken jaw has been freed from jail because his sentence was "too harsh".

Michael Benjamin Collins, aged 21, was jailed after failing to turn up to two probation appointments - but now he has been freed on appeal by top judges.

Collins was subject to a suspended sentence for an assault when he missed his appointments last June.

He was hauled back before Bolton Crown Court and jailed for nine months in November.

But he is now back on the streets again after three appeal judges in London said the sentence was too harsh.

Mr Justice Wyn Williams, sitting with Sir Brian Leveson and Mrs Justice McGowan, cut the sentence to four months, allowing his immediate release.

The court heard Collins, of Lilac Grove, Prestwich, was originally sentenced in April 2013 after admitting a GBH offence.

He had been part of a gang which left a man with a broken jaw after an unprovoked assault. Collins had kicked him in the face.

He was due at Bury Probation Office twice in June last year, but each time failed to attend.

However, the Court of Appeal today decided that to jail him for nine months was wrong.

Despite failing to attend his probation appointments, he had completed other requirements of the suspended sentence order.

Those included two curfews and a requirement that he complete unpaid work.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice Williams said: "We have reached the clear conclusion that the activation of nine months was, in all the circumstances, manifestly excessive.

"In our judgment, the appropriate period of activation was four months' detention.

"As it happens, he has now served a sentence equivalent to that and the consequence will be that he will shortly be released from custody."