THE Attorney General has challenged two sentences handed out by judges at Warrington Crown Court over the past three years.

Lord Goldsmith, Britain's top legal expert, took both cases, heard in 2003 and 2004 to the Court of Appeal as he felt the judges presiding over the hearings were unduly lenient.

In one of the cases, in December 2004, paedophile Stephen Mattison, from Great Sankey, had his four-year jail term increased by a year after being found guilty of 16 counts of indecent assault.

The second case involved Runcorn coach driver Norman Faulkner, who killed a cyclist in 2002.

Judge David Hale handed him a two-year suspended prison sentence after he was diagnosed with glaucoma, leaving him virtually blind.

Although the Attorney General was unhappy with the sentence the Court of Appeal did not change the sentence.

Across the country, Lord Goldsmith challenged judges for their sentences in the cases of more than 300 criminals.