Kidnap solicitor's sentence cut

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/norfolk/7152271.stm

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A solicitor who snatched his baby daughter from care workers and assaulted them has won an eight-month reduction of his 20-month jail term.

Jonathan Phillips, 40, admitted kidnap and two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm. He was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court last month.

Phillips, who lives near King's Lynn, Norfolk, successfully challenged the term at the Court of Appeal in London.

The judge agreed the term was too long for a man who lost his job and home.

Mental health problems

His counsel said Phillips lost his temper and acted "on the spur of the moment" while visiting his seven-month-old child, who was in foster care, at a supervision centre in August.

He punched two female workers and his car struck a man who tried to prevent Phillips and his wife from leaving with their daughter.

The two counts of assault relate to an injury to the man's hip and to the assault on one of the women, who was pregnant at the time.

The incident occurred the day after a court had made an interim care order in relation to the baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Lord Justice Richards said the "right sentence" was 12 months.

Counsel for Phillips argued the original sentence was "too long for a man who has lost his profession and home.

His wife was also ill and "on her own", the court heard.

Arrangements made for the child were the result of mental health problems experienced by Phillips' wife, said the judge.