A RECOVERING Abertillery heroin addict who was jailed for a robbery at a local convenience store walked free today after top judges quashed his prison sentence.

Damian William Hall, 37, of Brynithel, Abertillery was facing a three-year jail term after he admitted robbery at Cardiff Crown Court in March.

But appeal judges today said he was too harshly punished and substituted a suspended sentence to allow him to continue his rehabilitation in the community.

Giving the Court of Appeal judgment, Lady Justice Hallett said the violence Hall used was the minimum required to justify a conviction for robbery.

At the time, he was recovering from a heroin addiction and being prescribed methadone, but had had to sell his medicine to pay off debts to drug dealers.

On the morning of December 29 last year, he was looking for cash to buy more methadone and, when he could not get any, took the chance to steal money.

He went into a convenience store in Llanhilleth village, where he was known, and, as the assistant talked on the phone, snatched a £20 note from the till.

The assistant slammed the till closed and a tussle ensued, during which it was accepted that Hall was the more likely to suffer any injury, the judge said.

He ran outside and, while waiting at a zebra crossing to cross a road, was grabbed by the assistant, but struggled free and ran off over a railway bridge.

He was arrested soon afterwards because he was recognised in CCTV footage by a police officer. He admitted everything when questioned by police.

Today, lawyers for Hall argued before the judge, who was sitting with Mr Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, that the three-year term was too long.

Lady Justice Hallett said: "It's a serious matter to rob vulnerable shopkeepers who provide a vital public service and the courts have recognised that fact.

"However, we do accept that it is at the lower end of the scale of seriousness in terms of violence used, in terms of the effect upon the victim and in terms of the amount stolen."

The judges imposed a nine-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with the requirement that Hall participate in drug rehabilitation work.