TOP judges have cut the jail term imposed on a "decent" family man who swindled the state out of £18,000 over six-and-a-half years.

Father-of-four Philip Langhorn was originally legally drawing disability benefit -- but that became a dishonest claim after August, 1994 when his wife found work, London's Court of Appeal heard.

The fraud came to light in February, 2001 but since his arrest Langhorn has paid back £6,000, his counsel Howard Bradshaw told judges.

Langhorn, 46, of Tintern Crescent, Little Harwood, was convicted by a jury at Preston Crown Court of eight counts of false accounting and one of obtaining property by deception, and on November 1 last year was jailed for a total of 18 months.

But Appeal Court judges reduced that to a year after hearing arguments on his behalf, including that the offence was unsophisticated and he had not used the money for extravagant living.

Mr Justice Astill, sitting with Lord Justice Keene and Judge Richard Brown, said that re-payment of the money was continuing, and that Langhorn was a decent man of previous good character.

He added that Langhorn had suffered the "devastation" of a prison sentence and agreed with his lawyers that his sentence was out of line with other punishments imposed in similar cases.

Reducing his jail term, Mr Justice Astill concluded: "The claim began honestly before descending into dishonesty."