A baseball bat attacker who took the law into her own hands has had her jail term increased on appeal.

Dawn Diane Neeson, 47, of Waterloo Road, Ramsey was jailed for 30 months in April after admitting wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.

Her co-accused Scott Carbutt, 41, also of Waterloo Road, was jailed for seven years for his part in the assault and unrelated drugs offences.

The attack followed an unfounded allegation which led to a disagreement between the pair and the victim.

The Attorney General’s chambers appealed against the sentence Deemster Graeme Cook had imposed on Miss Neeson, arguing it was unduly lenient. And the appeal court has now quashed the original sentence and imposed one of three years and nine months’ imprisonment.

The court heard that at just after 9.30am on Friday June 17 last year emergency services received a 999 call from a witness who had seen Mr Carbutt swinging a baseball bat in the air in the area of St Paul’s Square, Ramsey.

Six minutes later a second caller reported seeing Miss Neeson aiming the bat for the victim’s head.

The violence, committed in broad daylight, was observed by a number of other members of the public.

Police attended Queen’s Promenade where they found the victim bleeding from a wound to his head.

Officers described both Miss Neeson and Mr Carbutt as being highly intoxicated.

The victim was taken to hospital and the bleeding to the top right side of his head required four sutures.

He had bruising behind his right ear and bruising to his thigh. He was hospitalised for four days.

CCTV footage showed Miss Neeson and Mr Carbutt, with the latter carrying the baseball bat, heading purposefully in the direction of promenade as if looking for someone together.

The victim told police that he had been drinking heavily with both defendants for three days before the assault. He said he had been sitting on the bench when he was attacked from behind with a hard object.

Miss Neeson denied the offences until she pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial. She denied going ‘hunting’ for the victim but admitted hitting him on the head with the baseball bat.

She accepted nothing had given her the right to take the law into her own hands.

The appeal court said the Deemster had erred in law by reducing the sentence to the extent he had, given the limited personal mitigation in this case.