THE ex-girlfriend of a Yeovil rapist who colluded with him in an attempt to cover up his crimes has had her two-year jail-term more than halved on appeal.

A court heard 36-year-old Amanda Jane Cullen had phone conversations with Mark Fell while he was in prison awaiting trial, in which he instructed her to protect the secret hiding place of a sawn-off shotgun he planned to use to scare his victim.

CONVICTED RAPIST: Mark Fell was jailed for an indeterminate period of time after being found guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment, rape, assault by penetration, conspiring to pervert the course of justice and possessing a prohibited weapon, a sawn-off shotgun. His ex-girlfriend Amanda Jane Cullen, who admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, has had her sentence cut on appeal

Although she did not act on any of his instructions, Cullen was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, which she admitted at Bristol Crown Court on January 14 this year.

On Thursday, she was back in the dock at London's Criminal Appeal Court, where top judges agreed to cut her sentence to 10 months.

Mr Justice Davis, sitting with Lord Justice Leveson and Mr Justice Tomlinson, told the court Cullen, of West Coker, Yeovil, was contacted seven times by Fell between January and June last year.

At that time, Fell, 45, of Tudor Court, Manor Road, Yeovil, was on remand in prison after being charged with rape, kidnap, false imprisonment and sexual assault of a 19-year-old girl.

The court heard he made a series of phone calls to friends and associates, including the seven to Cullen – his former partner and the mother of his child.

Recordings of the conversations revealed Fell asked Cullen to do a number of things, including contacting others and ensuring the sawn-off shotgun he had hidden was still where he left it.

In one conversation, Fell said to her that, the more they did to "blacken" the victim, the more his "soul came clean again".

She indicated she would help to back up his version of events regarding the attack on his teenage victim.

But Mr Justice Davis told the court Cullen did not take any "active steps" to follow Fell's instructions and in fact gave evidence for the prosecution at his trial.

The court heard Fell was convicted of all charges and handed an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum term of 10 years. A jury agreed with the prosecution's case that he snatched the teenager off the street in Yeovil and subjected her to a horrifying sexual ordeal.

Lawyers acting for Cullen argued her sentence was too long given that she had admitted her crime, shown genuine remorse and had not acted on any of Fell's requests.

They also told the court another conspirator, 35-year-old Daniel Williams, of Arundel Way, Yeovil, was only jailed for 19 months after being convicted by a jury of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The appeal judges said they were unable to suspend the jail term, describing the offence as "a very serious matter" – but agreed to cut the sentence to 10 months.

Mr Justice Davis said: "We think, in the circumstances, that a sentence of two years in this case was significantly longer than was necessary and was too long.

"We think that the appropriate sentence should have been one of 10 months imprisonment.

"Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice is a very serious matter indeed and it is important that the courts take a relatively stern stance in these cases."