A dangerous paedophile with a strangulation fetish has had his jail sentence reduced by three years.

Last year Robert Sinclair, 65, of Pine Hill, Epsom, was jailed for 12 years after using Facebook to groom teenagers into sexual activity online.

But on Tuesday the Court of Appeal decided that sentence was too long and reduced it to nine years.

In June, 2014, Guildford Crown Court sentenced Sinclair after he pleaded guilty to 33 offences described as "abhorrent" and "horrific" by the police.

As well as sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl, he created multiple online identities and tricked youngsters into filming themselves on webcams naked or engaging in sex acts - including strangling themselves.

The crown court heard that through one fake online teenage persona he persuaded a 13-year-old girl into gagging and choking herself online so he could watch.

Through a website he then offered to swap "gagging and asphyxia pictures of her naked" for similar original images.

The teenager had post-traumatic disorder, depression and suicidal thoughts as a result of his crimes between April 2012 and November 2013.

The crown court also heard that he stroked a nine-year-old girl under her chin in an alleyway in Epsom and took photographs to feed his fetish for children's necks in January 2012.

His victims came from across the country including six girls, aged from 12 to 14, and a 13-year-old boy.

Other offences that he was sentenced for at the crown court included attempting to pervert the course of justice, blackmail, sending obscene communications and unauthorised use of a computer.

He was described as a keen golfer and family man and Judge Christopher Critchlow said it "very sad" and "quite remarkable" he would commit such crimes "behind closed doors".

Last year Detective Constable Steve Branch said: "Robert Sinclair carried out an extremely organised and complex operation of horrific offending which has caused a huge amount of emotional trauma to the victims.

"He displayed abhorrent behaviour in targeting, grooming and controlling the children he struck up online relationships with. What he asked his victims to do was particularly unpleasant and dangerous."

The appeal on Tuesday was heard by Lord Justice Bean, Mr Justice Irwin and the Recorder of Carlisle, Judge Paul Batty.