The Court of Appeal yesterday reserved judgment on a challenge by former Welsh Office social services inspector Derek Brushett against his conviction and 14-year jail sentence for abusing boys at an approved school where he was head teacher during the 1970s.

After two days of legal argument on the conviction appeal, the appeal judges asked to hear submissions relating to the length of Brushett's sentence.

They said they would give judgment as soon as possible, without setting a date.

Brushett, 56, a father of four, was convicted last year of a catalogue of sexual and physical abuse on 17 boys, aged between 11 and 16, at Bryn-y-don approved school, Dinas Powys, near Cardiff, between 1974 and 1980. He was acquitted on other charges.

His lawyers and supporters say he is an innocent victim of a "trawl" by police seeking evidence in their Operation Goldfinch inquiry into abuse at children's homes in Wales, and that he was denied a fair trial because documents potentially vital to his defence were kept secret.

Brushett's counsel, Diana Cotton QC, also argued that there were glaring inconsistencies in the evidence given by the complainants and that these discrepancies were not adequately dealt with by the trial judge in his summing-up to the jury at Cardiff Crown Court.