AN expectant mum who admitted handling stolen car stereos and having heroin and cocaine has walked free from the dock after top judges reduced her jail sentence.

Danielle Nicholson, 23, of Stonyhurst Road, Blackburn, was jailed for nine months on January 20 this year at Burnley Crown Court, after pleading guilty to charges of handling and drugs possession.

But judges at London's Court of Appeal reduced her term to six months after her lawyers successfully argued the sentence as "manifestly excessive" given the good progress she has made in prison.

The reduction means that, because of time already served, Nicholson, who is due to give birth in four months' time, will be released immediately, her barrister, Martin Hackett, said after yesterday's hearing.

Mr Justice Mackay, sitting with Lord Justice Mance and Judge Richard Wakerley, QC, said Nicholson and a co-accused were under police surveillance in March, 2002, in Accrington.

Officers saw her carrying a stereo which she told for £60 and another time she was spotted selling speakers for £65.

Nicholson, who has made 40 previous appearances before the courts and been convicted of 55 dishonesty offences, has a problem with drug addiction, said Mr Justice Mackay. But she as doing well in jail, where she was considered "an exemplary prisoner" who had served her time "in a positive way."