David Harrison McArthur, 70, of Warminster Close, Corby, hit Patricia Mitchell, who he had known for more than 30 years, at least three times after an argument about money.

The gambling addict was jailed for six years at Northampton Crown Court in April after admitting wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

But today, in a hearing at the Court of Appeal, two top judges, Mr Justice Jack and Mr Justice Blake, ruled the sentence "manifestly excessive" and slashed it to four-and-a-half years.

Mr Justice Blake said McArthur's age and previous good character justified a reduction in a sentence which would have been appropriate for a younger offender.

McArthur had been an industrious, law-abiding man, who had lived a "blameless" life until he retired and developed a crushing gambling problem, the judge told the court.

He quickly amassed debts running into five figures, including borrowing between £300 and £500 cash from his neighbour, Mrs Mitchell.

Last November 12, he went around to her house, carrying a hammer and intending to talk about the debt, but instead fell into argument.

He then hit her at least three times over the head with the hammer, causing bloody injuries and lasting psychological damage to Mrs Mitchell.

Sentencing him, the Crown Court judge found that, although he had taken the hammer with him to the scene of the attack, he was not set on violence when he went.

Today, his lawyers argued that the six-year term was too long and succeeded in convincing the two judges to reduce the sentence to four-and-a-half years.

Mr Justice Blake said: "But for the fact that this was a man of 70, of very positive good character, with no hint of violence or any other form of offending, with a good history of neighbourliness until this dramatic and terrifying incident, the sentence could not possibly be the subject of criticism.

"For those reasons, and only those reasons, recognising the appalling nature of the violence, nevertheless, we think that the sentence is manifestly excessive.

"We propose to quash the sentence of six years and substitute for it a sentence of four-and-a-half years."