A “committed career criminal” who drove from Lancashire to Worcester to steal from gaming machines has seen his latest prison term slashed by judges.

Damien Rigby, 31, had already amassed convictions for more than 100 offences when he struck at Tenpin Bowling, in Perdiswell Park, in February.

While an accomplice stood watch, he used a thief's toolkit to cut padlocks on four machines and take cash boxes containing more than £500.

But Rigby, of Cornwall Drive, Wigan, was caught by police a month later as he drove on the M6 with his accomplice, Stephanie Rigby.

In the car, officers found two bolt cutters, a crowbar, croppers and a pushchair, which his accomplice had used to carry the tools into the bowling alley.

Sentencing him to two years and eight months for theft at Worcester Crown Court in June, a judge said the public needed a break from Rigby's offending.

Over more than a decade of crime, he had been before courts on 45 occasions and his convictions included a staggering 56 for theft and similar offences.

The only respite would be if he was locked up, put on licence or subject to a suspended sentence, the judge said, before jailing Rigby immediately.

Had he not pleaded guilty and received the standard one-third reduction for owning up, he would have been locked up for four years, added the judge.

But Rigby appealed to the Court of Appeal in London, arguing that, despite his long record, the sentence was “disproportionate” to the crime.

Allowing the appeal on Friday, Mr Justice Goss, Lord Justice Simon and Judge Karen Walden-Smith said Rigby's sentence was "manifestly excessive".

"After a trial, the appropriate sentence, in our judgment, would have been one of three years' imprisonment," Mr Justice Goss told the court.

“Accordingly, we quash the sentence of two years and eight months and substitute a sentence of two years' imprisonment.”

Stephanie Rigby received a suspended sentence for her part in the theft.