A Sussex man who slashed a father and son in the back of the head with a glass during a greyhound track brawl has failed to reduce his sentence.

Divorced father-of-two Graham Constable, 49, of Queens Road, Hove, was convicted of two counts of unlawful wounding and one of theft by two separate juries.

Mr Justice Gibbs, sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, rejected submissions from Constable's lawyers that his 18-month sentence was too long.

He is currently serving six months for theft and a further 12 months for unlawful wounding.

The judge, who was sitting with Mrs Justice Hallett, said Constable "deliberately threw away" a chance that was given to him when he initially received a 12-month suspended sentence for wounding at Lewes Crown Court on August 13, 1998.

The sentence was activated when he was later convicted of theft on October 4 last year.

In June 1997, Constable assaulted Richard Parker and his son Graham during an altercation at the bar of the Hove greyhound track, said the judge.

Both sustained cuts to the back of their scalps after Constable lashed out at them with a glass.