A DRUNK whose "appalling" driving killed a council official when he careered the wrong way down the M66 at Bury had his sentence reduced on Thursday in London's Appeal Court.

Patrick Fanning (48) was jailed for seven years at Bolton Crown Court earlier this year after pleading guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of Paul Martin.

The 29-year-old victim, of Bolton Road North, Edenfield, died when his BMW was struck head-on by Fanning, who was uninsured and had no licence.

Fanning, who accepted he was "intoxicated" at the time, also sustained multiple fractures in the impact and suffered a serious stroke while in hospital.

Mr Justice Leveson, sitting with Lord Justice Longmore and Judge Sir Ian Kennedy, said the facts revealed a "truly horrific incident" in which Fanning drove the wrong way along the M66 from the Walmersley Road slip road exit, forcing other vehicles heading out of Bury to hug the hard shoulder to avoid him.

The tragedy struck on June 14 last year as Mr Martin, who worked for Salford Council housing department, was driving home at about 12.15am after he had met friends.

Mr Justice Leveson said Fanning was spotted by other motorists some time before the fatality as he neared the motorway "swerving from lane to lane and braking sharply".

Police were tipped off by mobile phone and observed him "driving the wrong way down the slip road onto the motorway".

Three cars had to "swerve to avoid a collision", said the judge, adding: "Fanning then proceeded to drive the wrong way along that busy road". Other vehicles flashed their lights to warn him to change lanes, but "he ignored them all".

Mr Martin had no chance to avoid collision, the court heard. He was a former pupil of Elton High School and had studied A-levels at Stand College in Whitefield before moving on to High Wycombe University where he graduated with criminology and sociology degrees.

Fanning, of Symonds Road, Blackley, had made 34 previous court appearances, said the judge, of which ten were for motoring offences.

Now wheelchair-bound in prison, he had expressed "deep remorse" for his actions but showed "little insight" into the gravity of his offence.

The Crown Court judge had said Fanning had been guilty of "appalling" driving, adding that an accident with multiple fatalities could have occurred at any time.

Mr Justice Leveson said that, when sentence was passed, the maximum term was ten years' custody, but it has since been upped to 14 years.

He cut Fanning's sentence from seven years to six to "reflect the element of his personal circumstances".

Had the maximum sentence been 14 years at the time, the court "would not have interfered with the sentence", said the judge.