Jail term cut for "neighbor from hell" granny

LONDON (Reuters) - An 81-year-old British grandmother branded by a judge as "the original neighbor from hell" had her jail term cut Wednesday but lost a bid for freedom because she wouldn't apologize for her actions.

Dorothy Evans, a widow from Wales, was jailed two weeks ago for harassment and breaching an Anti-Social Behavior Order after repeatedly shouting at her neighbors and hitting them with her walking stick.

Her lawyer said she was attacked in jail by another inmate Tuesday. She arrived at London's Appeal Court in a wheelchair flanked by three prison officers, with a plaster over one eye.

Appeal Court Judge Nicholas Underhill cut Evans's six-month sentence by a third but said she must spend at least another four weeks locked up after refusing to apologize.

"Old age is not a license to disregard the law or the requirements of decent behavior toward others," he said.

In sentencing the grandmother, Judge Roderick Denyer said he had taken into account her age and would have jailed her for much longer if she had been younger.

Defense lawyer David Webster said Evans had experienced "profound difficulty" in accepting blame, although she was "totally sorry to find herself in the situation she does."