A POSTMASTER whose cheek was bitten "nearly off" in a robbery today reacted with outrage and disbelief after his attacker's prison sentence was cut by a quarter.

Ronnie Condon, postmaster at Byram, said yesterday's decision at London's Criminal Appeal Court sent out entirely the wrong message.

The post office near Selby was dubbed one of the luckiest places in Britain to buy a National Lottery ticket after two villagers each scooped more than £1.6 million. But Mr Condon's luck was out on November 10 last year when his premises were raided by two men wearing balaclavas and wielding a pickaxe handle and sledgehammer.

David Webster, 30, from Leeds, smashed the glass counter with the sledgehammer to reach a bag containing £37,000.

Mr Condon was hailed a hero after he forced Webster to drop the bag. As the two exchanged blows, the robber sank his teeth into Mr Condon's cheek. Webster, who was caught through DNA left at the scene, was sentenced to ten years behind bars at Hull Crown Court in March this year after pleading guilty to robbery and wounding.

But judges, sitting at the Criminal Court of Appeal, reduced that to seven-and-a-half years. They ruled the original jail term was too long on a guilty plea and accepted that Webster had played no part in planning the raid. The court heard how after his business failed, Webster agreed to be the getaway driver for the gang but, after one member dropped out at the last minute, he was persuaded to take the role of the hammer man.

A furious Mr Condon, 42, who also runs a post office at South Milford with his wife, Anthea, said today he had lost all faith in British justice. He said: "This man will now be out in less than four years, which is an outrage. He did the crime and should do the time. My family has been to hell and back, and I'm still having nightmares and flashbacks."

Updated: 11:59 Friday, July 06, 2001