Rupert Murdoch's pie attacker's jail term reduced to 4 weeks

The six-week jail sentence of the man who threw a foam pie at News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch, has been reduced to four weeks.

Jonathan May-Bowles, 26, also known as Jonnie Marbles, pleaded guilty this week to assaulting the 80-year-old media tycoon as he gave evidence to British lawmakers on the phone-hacking scandal.

He later appealed against his sentence, saying the assault was designed to voice 'widespread revulsion' over the phone hacking scandal.

May-Bowles failed in an attempt to overturn his six-week prison sentence, but it was reduced to four weeks at London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday, the Scotsman reports.

Judge Pitts also said that May-Bowles, a part-time stand-up comedian, carried out the attack 'to gain notoriety'.

"It is impossible to imagine that he did this without knowing that it would attract huge, probably worldwide, publicity," he said.

"He must have known that, he must have intended to be seen in the context of having had the courage to do what he did and to assault this - I put it in inverted commas - 'wicked newspaper owner'," he added.