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A NEW Forest man jailed for child cruelty after sending a misbehaving young girl to her bedroom has been freed by appeal judges.

The 30-year-old from Fordingbridge had his two-and-a-half-year prison sentence overturned after appeal judges branded it "manifestly and grossly excessive".

He spent seven weeks in prison for two counts of cruelty to the six-year-old child after being locked up by a Southampton Crown Court judge in March who branded him a "bully" who had "gone out of his way to target the girl".

Despite agreeing that the man had acted "inappropriately", Mr Justice David Clarke and Mr Justice MacDuff said at the Court of Appeal that he was not a "bully" but just a struggling parent "at the end of his tether".

The cruelty came to light when teachers at her school noticed that the previous happy and smiley little girl had become tearful and unsettled.

Police arrested and interviewed the mother and stepfather, uncovering "a particularly harsh regime" of discipline. Charges against the mother were not pursued.

It emerged that the girl was regularly sent to her room when she misbehaved and on another occasion had her mouth taped up by her stepfather when she shouted at her sister.

On another occasion the stepfather told the girl that she might have to be taken into care if she continued to misbehave.

He admitted the charges on the basis that his actions were simply "over-zealous" discipline in order to deal with a particularly difficult child.

Overturning the Crown Court ruling Mr Justice MacDuff added: "Having read all of the papers carefully, we have to say that we agree with counsel for the appellant that he presents as an inexperienced parent, towards the end of his tether, seeking assistance and not as a bully," he said.

The man had taken steps to get help to deal with the child. She had reacted badly to a loss of contact with her biological father and undoubtedly misbehaved from time to time.

"The trial judge was not entitled to say that the child's unhappiness and distress had been caused by her stepfather sending her to her room," he said.

It was "understood by everyone except the judge" that the little girl's unhappiness had been caused by her family circumstances," he added.

The sentence was replaced with a community order with a two-year supervision requirement. The man must also take a parenting course.

7:00pm Friday 16th May 2008

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