A man who left a month-old baby permanently disabled after a prolonged attack has had his prison sentence cut by five years by appeal judges.

Ross Dunn was originally jailed for 15 years after the trial judge told him: "This was an inexplicable, horrendous crime committed on a tiny baby."

Dunn challenged the sentence imposed on him by Lord Malcolm, claiming it was excessive, and judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh quashed the 15-year term and substituted a ten-year sentence.

Dunn was convicted of attempting to murder a four-week-old baby at a flat in Edinburgh on November 17 in 2013 following a trial at the High Court in the city.

The 28-year-old, formerly of Wester Drylaw Place, Edinburgh, was found guilty of assaulting her to her severe injury and permanent impairment by seizing her by the body, shaking her and striking her against a surface.

The girl suffered a fractured skull, broken leg, eye damage, bleeding and bruising following the attack. She is now registered blind, has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and will require constant care.

In jailing Dunn Lord Malcolm told him he had left the child "permanently and severely disabled".

The trial judge said: "She will never be able to enjoy a normal life. It was only thanks to the excellent care and treatment from doctors and other staff at the Sick Children's Hospital that she survived."

Prosecutor Bruce Erroch told the High Court trial that Dunn was "a man who by his own admission has problems with his temper".

The child's mother told the trial: "She is a good little girl, but she has been left with very severe, lifelong disabilities. She will likely never stand, walk, even sit by herself."

Dunn's counsel, Donald Findlay QC, told the appeal judges: "In the whole circumstances of this case the sentence falls to be regarded as excessive."

He said the case involved a single incident and there was no underlying sense of someone being deliberately cruel.

The defence counsel said Dunn was "distraught" at the knowledge that he had caused harm to the child.

"After the trial the contrition expressed by him, I am quite comfortable in saying to the court, was profound and genuine," he told Lord Menzies and Lady Smith.

Mr Findlay said: "It is a single episode of shaking on a single occasion."

Lady Smith said in giving the decision to reduce the sentence imposed on Dunn that they bore in mind that in his case the conviction was for a charge of attempted murder, but they also had to have regard to the principle of comparative justice.