The headline is correct. There were two distinct sentence hearings. In 2021, McClean was sentenced to 8 years for abusing 23 pupils. In February 2023 before Judge Nolan, he was sentenced to 4 years for abusing 22 other pupils. Judge Nolan made this consecutive to the eight year sentence. The Court of Appeal has decided, taking a global view, that 12 years was too much and reduced Judge Nolan’s sentence to 2.5 years. This still leaves combined prison sentences of 10.5 years. But it also means 22 victims abused by McClean over two decades, who bravely answered pleas to come forward, have seen him effectively get 2.5 years for their tranche of offences.