Blake killers get reduced prison terms

8.25am

Six of the men convicted of robbing and killing Sir Peter Blake have had their sentences reduced by a Brazilian court.

The court took an average of four years off the prison terms, which had ranged between 26 and 36 years.

Sir Peter, 53, was shot to death in December 2001 while attempting to defend his yacht Seamaster and his crew from robbers who boarded the vessel while it was at anchor near the mouth of the Amazon River.

The world-renowned yachtsman and two-time winner of the America's Cup had just completed an expedition up the Amazon as one of the first activities for his new environmental project Blakexpeditions.

Associated Press quotes a court official as saying the sentences were reduced in order to "give the defendants some hope that one day they will be able to rejoin society and lead fruitful lives".