Appeal overturns lenient sentence

John Anderson, 45, from Angus, had been ordered to pay £1,500 compensation to Jeanette Mazzaschi and carry out 300 hours of community service.

But the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that sentences must try to deter others from domestic violence.

Lord Justice General, Lord Hamilton, said: "We are satisfied that this was truly an unduly lenient sentence."

The Lord Justice General, who heard the case with Lord Nimmo Smith and Lord Maclean, pointed out that the victim had been transformed following the attack from an outgoing person to a recluse.

The judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh quashed the original sentence imposed on Anderson and said: "We are satisfied that the only method of dealing appropriately with him was by a custodial term."

Anderson, from Montrose, earlier admitted attacking Ms Mazzaschi to her severe injury and the danger of her life by repeatedly punching and kicking her on the head and body in September 2005 when he appeared at Arbroath Sheriff Court.