A MAN who terrified a schoolgirl by pressing an imitation gun to her head as she walked through a park has had his two-year jail term cut on appeal.

Daniel Robin Adam Morgan, aged 22, of George Street, Farnworth, was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence at Bolton Crown Court in May.

The court had heard how in June last year the 13-year-old girl was walking home through a park. When she stopped to tie her shoe laces, Morgan pressed the gun to her head and ordered her to "get into the bushes".

She swore at him and he immediately admitted it was a plastic gun adding: "I am only joking."

The sentencing judge said he could not accept it had just been a prank which went wrong and was clearly intended to frighten the girl.

But yesterday the Criminal Appeal Court in London cut his sentence to 18 months.

Branding the case another example of street crime which would have had a last effect on the schoolgirl, Mr Justice Leveson added: "With considerable hesitation, we have come to the conclusion this sentence was more than it needed to have been in the circumstances of this case."