A THIEF who escaped from a court dock to visit his dying grandmother has had his sentence cut on appeal.

Mark John Davies, 24, of London Road, High Wycombe, who plagued pub landlords in Buckinghamshire, ran from court after being refused bail and was rearrested shortly after attending his grandmother's funeral.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty on July 3 last year at Winchester Crown Court to charges of theft, robbery, assault while resisting arrest and escaping from custody.

But appeal Judge Sir Peter Crawford cut Davies' jail term to five-and-a-half years, saying the original sentence was excessive.

The judge told London's Criminal Appeal Court on Tuesday that Davies was on licence from a four-year sentence for indecent assault, burglary and assault imposed in October 1997 when he "went back to work" two months after his release in August 1999.

The court heard Davies burgled a cottage, stealing £300 from a tin box, and during the end of 1999 and beginning of 2000 he targeted a total of five pubs in the county with sneak-thefts from the premises and robberies.

His one-man crime wave came to an end when a pub landlord "took a positive approach" to his intrusion and tackled him.

Sir Peter, sitting with Mr Justice McCombe and Lord Justice Kay, said: "In our judgement, having regard to the principle of totality, serious though the offences were, the cumulative effect of the sentences exceeded what was appropriate.

"We propose to reduce the sentences in total and accordingly the original sentence of seven years is quashed and substituted with a sentence of five-and-a-half years. To that extent this appeal is allowed."