A conspirator involved in a plot to lure a man to a remote spot where the victim was attacked with baseball bats has had his jail term cut on appeal.

Emanuel Jay Kaneen was jailed for two years in May after being found guilty following a trial of conspiracy to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Kaneen was jointly charged with Maisie Elizabeth McMahon and persons unknown. She was sentenced to 16 months’ custody after pleading guilty.

Their victim, Luke Collison, had been lured by Ms McMahon to drive to the car park at Clypse reservoir in February 2016.

He was then set upon by three unknown males wearing balaclavas and wielding baseball bats. He was injured and his car was a write-off. No one was ever charged with the assault upon Mr Collison.

At sentencing, trial judge Deemster Kainth said: ’This was a sustained group assault with a substantial amount of premeditation.’

In December last year, Kaneen had pleaded guilty to an offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent committed while he was on bail for the conspiracy offence.

Deemster Montgomerie sentenced him to three years’ custody. The two-year jail term imposed by Deemster Kainth was to run consecutively.

But Kaneen appealed against the two-year sentence, his lawyer Stephen Wood arguing it was ’manifestly excessive or wrong in principle’.

Mr Wood said there was an unjustifiable disparity of eight months between that sentence and that of Ms McMahon.

The appeal court allowed the appeal, quashing the two- year jail term and replacing it with one of 18 months’ custody. The Judge of Appeal said the substantial discrepancy was not justified.