Businessman Anthony Lyons is being sent back to prison for another 18 months for sexual assault. The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed his original six-month custodial sentence deeming it 'unduly lenient'.

Lyons (53) from Griffith Avenue in Dublin will be returned to jail immediately.

He bowed his head as the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled that the six-month jail sentence imposed by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for a violent sexual assault on a woman in 2010 was unduly lenient.

Lyons' sentence has now been boosted to four times its original amount, with the six months he already served to be taken into account.

That means he will now spend another 18 months in jail.

In an earlier hearing, the court had heard he had settled civil proceedings with the victim for €200,000.

However, Mr Justice John Murray said the court did not consider that to be a relevant mitigating factor.

Originally published 09:14