May 2017 Brentwood man who battered and bit a baby before attacking him with a cigarette has appeal rejected A man who inflicted a horrific barrage of abuse on an 18-month old baby has failed to persuade top judges that his five-year jail term was too harsh. Billy Robert Horst, 21, left the helpless youngster with “injuries from his forehead to his feet” after attacking him with a lit cigarette, biting and beating him. Horst, of Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood, was jailed for five years at Snaresbrook Crown Court in December last year. He had been convicted of three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. On Thursday (May 18), Horst asked Lord Justice Davis, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, to reduce his jail term, claiming it was too long. The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Stuart-Smith and Judge Clement Goldstone QC, said that Horst, after his arrest, had not displayed any sign that he was sorry and had denied his guilt. Horst showed a “regrettable lack of remorse or insight” even after his conviction by the jury, added Lord Justice Davis. The judge also slammed the “awful injuries” inflicted and the “extreme callousness” shown by Horst “towards an utterly defenceless child.” “You burned him with lighted cigarettes,” said the judge, rejecting the appeal. “You bit him, including on the face. You beat him. He effectively had injuries from his forehead to his feet.”