Former world heavyweight boxing champion Herbie Hide has had his jail term cut by four months.

Hide, 42, of Bawburgh, near Norwich, was given a 22-month term by a judge at Cambridge Crown Court in November after he admitted conspiring to sell cocaine.

But three appeal judges have today cut the term to 18 months after lawyers for Hide argued that the original sentence was too long.

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Hide, who twice held the World Boxing Organisation version of the heavyweight title in the 1990s, was not at the Court of Appeal hearing in London.

He was jailed after a judge heard that he fell for a sting operation set up by an investigative journalist known as the Fake Sheikh.

Hide arranged to supply the class A drug to Sun on Sunday reporter Mazher Mahmood after a series of meetings at a hotel near Norwich.

Lawyers for Hide questioned the use of 'entrapment' tactics.

Hide has previous convictions for offences including criminal damage, battery, threatening behaviour and carrying a knife.