A GAY couple who were jailed for a total of 10 years for child porn offences have had their prison terms slashed at the Court of Appeal.

David Best, aged 59, and 44-year-old Symon Bain were each sentenced to four years' imprisonment at Bristol Crown Court in February for 20 counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Bain, of Woodend Road, Coalpit Heath, received an extra two years for breaching a previously imposed sexual offences prevention order, taking his total sentence to six years.

But yesterday, following a challenge to the sentencing decision by their lawyers, two Appeal Court judges cut Best's term to three years and two months and Bain's total term to three-and-a-half years.

The couple, who had been together for 12 years, were caught out last May after police raided Best's home in Oak Road, Horfield, and seized computer equipment and pornographic DVDs.

Bain, who had been living in hostels and at Best's house, had only been released from prison months earlier for other offences relating to his interest in child porn.

Both men also had long histories of trouble with the law and had been convicted of child porn offences.

In 2003, both were jailed for 15 months and banned from working with children after a stash of 6,900 child porn images and 40 videos of indecent films of children aged between 6 and 15 were found at the Horfield home they then shared.

Prior to their sentencing, probation officers interviewed and assessed both men and described their sexual offending as "entrenched".

Bain admitted his motive was sexual gratification, was said to live a "predatory" lifestyle and showed no desire to change his ways, while Best posed a "medium to high" risk of reoffending.

But yesterday, after hearing arguments by lawyers representing the two men, Mr Justice Jack and Mr Justice Roderick Evans, granted reductions in their sentences.

Mr Justice Roderick Evans said that although both deserved long terms, they should have received full credit for pleading guilty, reducing their porn sentences to three years and two months.

And although Bain's breach of the order was not a technical one, a consecutive term of two years was too long, four months being the appropriate punishment, the judge added.