A 43-YEAR-OLD football thug walked free from the Appeal Court after judges reduced his jail term.

Manchester City supporter Christopher Michael James, of Alexandra Drive, Westhoughton, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for 15 months at Manchester Crown Court in January.

He had been caught on CCTV gesticulating towards a group of Manchester United fans in the city centre and "goading his group on" during a fight between two rival gangs of supporters, the court heard. He did not get involved in the violence himself.

The Crown Court judge had said that as the fighting escalated, members of the public were fleeing as bottles and missiles rained down on them and that the scene was "one of bedlam".

James had successfully appealed against the length of the sentence at London's Appeal Court and was bailed pending the outcome of yesterday's hearing.

His sentence was cut from 15 months to nine months, which meant that with the time he had already served, he would not have to go back behind bars. The Appeal Court judge, Mr Justice Wright, said he could not ignore James's greater role in the fighting, but recognised that he had no previous record and cut the sentence to nine months.