A man in his 30s who harassed a Bradford schoolgirl for five years with persistent declarations of his love has had his jail term halved by top judges.

James Hamilton Edmundson, 35, left unwanted letters and gifts, including tapes of him crooning lovesongs, for the schoolgirl, and harassed her at home and in public for five years, beginning when she was aged just 11.

Edmundson, of Wedgemoor Close, Wyke, Bradford, ignored Court orders to stay away from her and, on July 15 this year, was jailed for two years at Bradford Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of breaching a restraining order and one of breaching a community rehabilitation order.

That sentence was halved to one year by Mr Justice Gray sitting with Mrs Justice Dobbs at London's Criminal Appeal Court yesterday.

The judge told the court how Edmundson would follow the girl, who is now 16, around when she was shopping, on the bus, or even after she had been dropped off by her father at school, constantly declaring his love for her.

He was ordered to stop and given a community punishment order last year, but still insisted on leaving her gifts and following her, so strong was his obsession.

Even after he had been in court several times, he tried to give her a mobile phone, saying she should take it so they could stay in contact always, and left flowers and a tape of him singing in her parents' garden.

Mr Justice Gray, however, agreed to cut his sentence after hearing that the Crown Court judge had not taken six and a half months he had spent on remand into account when passing sentence.

"He pursued a course of conduct which amounted to constant harassment of a young girl who was just 16," the appeal judge said.

"Her young age was an aggravating factor in the case," he added..

"However, no account was taken of the time he had spent in custody on remand before the imposition of the community punishment order.

"We propose to quash the currently imposed sentence and to impose a sentence of 12 months in its stead. To that extent this appeal is allowed," concluded the judge.