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A man jailed for at least two-and-a-half years, but who has spent 16 years in prison, is to be released after a Court of Appeal decision.

Leighton Williams drunkenly attacked another man in a Caerphilly park in 2007 when he was 19. In June 2008, Williams was given an indeterminate sentence, with a minimum of 30 months, at Cardiff Crown Court after being convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent.

The victim was left with a fractured jaw, cheekbone and eye socket after the attack.

Known at the time as an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence, it meant that if Williams was still deemed a serious risk to the public after the minimum term he would remain inside.

Such sentences were abolished in 2012.

After filing an appeal last year, the Court of Appeal changed his sentence to one of five years’ detention in a young offender institution, which means he will be released immediately.

Lord Justice Popplewell said it was “in the interests of justice” to allow the appeal.

He said the judge who originally sentenced Williams believed the open-ended sentence was needed because of a previous GBH conviction, but that he did not take into account Williams’ age at the time.

Williams was said to have wept as he watched proceedings via video link from HMP Parc near Bridgend.

The court was told he had been released on licence twice during his sentence, but was sentenced to 12 weeks in custody for an assault in October last year.

Despite the scrapping of IPPs, more than 1,000 people remain in prison with campaigners calling for them to be resentenced.