Former Welsh Office social services inspector Derek Brushett yesterday lost an appeal against his conviction of abusing boys at a school for children in care where he was head teacher during the 1970s.

But the Court of Appeal in London reduced his 14-year jail sentence to 12 years and three months.

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

His lawyers and supporters claimed he was 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.

It was also argued that there were glaring inconsistencies in the evidence given by the complainants, and that these were not adequately dealt with by Judge Peter Jacobs in his summing-up to the jury at Cardiff Crown Court.

The appeal judges rejected the argument that Brushett's rights under the human rights laws to a fair trial had been breached.