Peter Thomas Jacques, (30), of Charlesworth Street, Bolsover, agreed to murder Neil Bacon - said to be a 'domineering and violent' man by his family - who was a part-time gamekeeper and ran a security company.

He was hired by Mr Bacon's son, Michael, of Wordsworth Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, at the instigation of his mother, Mr Bacon snr's wife, Susan, of Keeper's Cottage, Clumber Park, London's Criminal Appeal Court was told on Tuesday.

Mr Bacon (50), was stabbed six times on the driveway of his cottage on the Clumber Park Estate, near Worksop, by Jacques on November 26 2008, and died of blood loss after staggering to his kitchen.

His wife and son then pretended he had been the victim of a botched burglary.

All three were convicted of his murder at Nottingham Crown Court in December last year, and jailed for life. Jacques received a 28-year minimum term, Susan Bacon 24 years and Michael Bacon 21 years.

Lord Justice Moore-Bick, Mr Justice McCombe and Judge Francis Gilbert QC, sitting at the Criminal Appeal Court in London, reduced Jaques' tariff to 26 years.

The court heard that the murdered man had more than £200,000 in bank accounts, safety deposit boxes and stored in the house.

Both Michael and Susan Bacon told the trial jury that Mr Bacon had been violent towards them and Lord Justice Moore-Bick said their motivation for arranging his killing had been "a mixture of hatred and greed."

Allowing Jacques' appeal, the judge said he ought not to have been punished so much more harshly than Susan Bacon, the architect of the murder plot.

"There should not have been such a great disparity between the person who organised and brought forward this death and the person who carried it out," he ruled.

Michael Bacon also appealed against the length of his minimum term, but his plea was refused by the court, with Lord Justice Moore-Bick saying it would have 'failed to reflect the gravity of his offence' were they to reduce his tariff.