A MAN who at first admitted killing a father-of-four in a street attack - but who later tried to plead his innocence - today failed in an Appeal Court bid to clear his name.

But Carl Mason, of no fixed abode, was given some relief by the judges, who cut his jail term for Michael Brolly's manslaughter from four years to three.

Mason was part of a marauding gang who set upon Mr Brolly in the centre of York on September 16, 2001, after a drunken christening party in a city centre bar.

The 23-year-old admitted manslaughter in November, 2002, and trial judge Mr Justice Treacy later refused to allow him to change his plea to not guilty and handed him the four-year jail term.

In the Appeal Court, his lawyers argued his initial guilty plea had been "mistaken" and he should have been allowed to change his mind because of the weakness of the prosecution case against him.

But Lord Justice Potter, sitting with Mr Justice Hunt and Mr Justice Tugendhat, was "wholly satisfied" the judge had rightly refused to allow Mason to change his plea.

"There can be no suggestion of injustice in this case", the appeal judge ruled.

However, the court recognised that Mason had played only a limited role in Mr Brolly's killing. In light of his youth and poor health - he suffers from severe eczema - his jail term for the manslaughter was cut from four years to three.

The manslaughter sentence was made consecutive to another four-year term Mason was already serving for an unrelated wounding offence, so his total sentence is now seven years.

Lord Justice Potter said Mason, his girlfriend, Leanne Beard, and her cousin, Jason Hodgson, were part of a christening party which ended up at Yates' Wine Lodge, in York, in the early evening of September 16, 2001.

During the evening, Michael Brolly was also drinking at the bar and became loud and aggressive towards Mason and his group, who then proceeded to another bar, where they again encountered Mr Brolly.

Mr Brolly, 34, of Margaret Street, Walmgate, continued shouting and acting aggressively towards Mason and his friends and eventually knocked Leanne Beard to the ground.

He then ran outside, removed his shirt, and began taunting members of Mason's group.

Beard hit Mr Brolly with her handbag and a chase ensued through the city. Mr Brolly was eventually surrounded, brought to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked.

Members of the public summoned emergency services to the scene but efforts to revive Mr Brolly failed and he was pronounced dead soon after his arrival at hospital.

Jason Hodgson and Leanne Beard also pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to four years and six months jail and three years six months detention respectively. Another defendant, Mathew Carney, was acquitted.

Lord Justice Potter said Mason had joined in the attack on Mr Brolly at a late stage, and the prosecution was not in a position to prove that he kicked the victim. He had pleaded guilty on the basis of "joint enterprise".

However, after entering the guilty plea, his lawyers argued the prosecution case against him became progressively weaker and he should have been allowed to change his plea.

His counsel, Robert Smith, QC, argued he had been under intense pressure to admit manslaughter as he would otherwise have been faced with a murder trial.

However, dismissing the conviction appeal, Lord Justice Potter said: "There was no objective reason to doubt that the (guilty) plea was freely given at the time."

Nevertheless, Lord Justice Potter reduced Mason's sentence. The court took into account his relative youth and his severe eczema, which would make imprisonment harder on him.

Updated: 14:54 Thursday, November 18, 2004