Martin O’Hara has successfully appealed against his six-year sentence

Martin O’Hara’s time behind bars has been cut after he successfully appealed against his six-year sentence.

He was jailed in November 2015 after being found guilty by a jury of eight cases of indecent assault against two girls in the 1990s.

O’Hara, 51, who has two daughters, coached at several clubs across Sussex, taught at schools and met children at amateur dramatics societies.

Judge Paul Tain, who sentenced him at Hove Crown Court, said his offending was “disgusting” and he had “trashed” his victims as liars during the trial.

O’Hara, of Medmerry Hill, Brighton, repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and challenged both his conviction and sentence.

He twice asked the Court of Appeal to review his conviction and this was refused.

But now judges have now ruled his sentence was too long, reducing it to four years.

This means that because half a prison term is generally served behind bars and half out on licence he could walk free from jail in a matter of months – by November this year.

Someone involved in his prosecution, who has to remain anonymous for legal reasons, expressed surprise at the news but said they respected the court’s decision.

They were “relieved” the conviction was not overturned after such “harrowing” evidence emerged in court.

They added: “The horrors of this court case will stay with those involved for ever.

“My heart goes out to the victims who had to face such scrutiny and fear for so long before being finally believed.

“I hope we can all move on now and lessons can be learned.”

A transcript of the Court of Appeal judgment, obtained by The Argus, showed O’Hara’s ground for appeal was to criticise how crown court Judge Tain dealt with some of the evidence and directed the jury.

But the document said appeal judges were “quite satisfied” this was handled properly.

The papers acknowledged Judge Tain’s description of O’Hara’s crimes as a “catalogue of disgustingly serious sexual behaviour”.

In the judgement, Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said: “We noted [O’Hara] has shown no remorse either during the court of the trial or in a pre-sentence report which indicated he still denied the offences.”

She did, however, criticise how Judge Tain passed his total sentence and noted some of his remarks may have been “unwarranted”.

But she added: “We have no doubt the effect of [O’Hara’s] conduct upon the two victims in this case would have been psychologically damaging to them.”

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order remains in place.