A severely disabled prisoner who requires round-the-clock treatment does not have to go back to jail, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Daniel Roque Hall, 30, is serving a three-year sentence after admitting smuggling 2.8kg of cocaine in his wheelchair back from a holiday in Peru.
He suffers from the rare degenerative condition Friedreich's ataxia and is not expected to live into his 40s. He has spent most of his sentence in hospital.
Allowing his appeal against sentence, Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Hickinbottom substituted the lesser term of 18 months, which means he can return to his north-west London home this week.
Campaigners had argued that Hall's sentence was "the death penalty by default".
Hall's mother Anne, who joined supporters who clapped as the appeal judges announced their decision, said she was "absolutely delighted" with the court's decision to release her son.
She said: "The court has made a right and just decision for which I am grateful.
"It is important for people with disabilities that their needs are properly understood and prisons can cater for them in the way they would be treated in the community.
Mrs Hall said it was a pity the prison authorities did not draw on the "deep knowledge" of the organisation Ataxia UK.
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Disabled Prisoner Freed From 'Death Penalty By Default'