A YOUTH who tortured and humiliated a mentally-ill woman who was daubed in dog excrement, urinated on and then forced naked into the streets of Accrington, deserved every day of his 10-year sentence, London's Appeal Court has ruled.

Julie Evans was twice attacked in her own home by Robert Grist and accomplices on successive days in March last year, the court heard, and was targeted due to her fragile state.

Judge Andrew Patience, upholding the ten-year sentence, said the punishment was justifiably severe.

Grist's crimes, which involved targeting elderly or vulnerable people, called for "exceptional sentences".

In another offence, Grist and others robbed a blind man whom they threatened to stab after luring him into a secluded spot by pretending to offer help.

Miss Evans, who had alcohol and "mental health problems", was systematically kicked and punched in the head and body by the intruders during the first raid, with paint poured over her.

The next day Grist and her other tormentors returned, lashing her hands, forcing her into a cupboard for an hour before rubbing dog dirt in her face.

Judge Patience said the 36-year-old was then forced to eat soap, while her hair -- of which she was particularly proud -- was also brutally hacked off.

Grist, now 18, himself delivered the next insult by urinating on the 36-year-old, who was then "stripped naked and forced into the street", the court heard.

Along with devastating psychological damage caused by the assaults, Ms Evans was left with multiple cuts and bruising due to the "systematic beating" she received.

She was in hospital for over a week and has since been unable to return home due to fears for her own safety, said Judge Patience.

The judge, sitting with Lady Justice Hallett and Mr Justice Silber, said Grist's "humiliating and degrading" crimes prompted "revulsion" among those who heard of them.

Grist, of Tremellen Street, Accrington, received ten years' detention after pleading guilty at Preston Crown Court in July last year. He admitted three counts of robbery, false imprisonment, and one count of assault.