A MAN who admitted killing a father-of-four, but later tried to plead innocence, yesterday failed in an Appeal Court bid to clear his name.

However, judges agreed to reduce the jail sentence imposed on Carl Mason, of no fixed abode, for manslaughter from four years to three.

Mason was part of a gang who set upon Michael Brolly, 34, in the centre of York on September 16, 2001, after a drunken Christening party in Yates's Wine Lodge, in the city.

The 23-year-old admitted manslaughter in November 2002, and trial judge Mr Justice Treacy later refused to allow him to change his plea to not guilty and gave him the four-year jail term.

In the Appeal Court, Mason's counsel, Robert Smith QC, argued his client had been under intense pressure to admit manslaughter because he would otherwise have faced a murder trial.

But Lord Justice Potter, sitting with Mr Justice Hunt and Mr Justice Tugendhat, said the judge had rightly refused to allow Mason to change his plea.

The court recognised that Mason had played only a limited role in Mr Brolly's killing and, because of his youth and severe eczema problems, his jail term was cut to three years.

The manslaughter sentence had been made consecutive to a four-year term Mason was serving for an unrelated wounding offence.