Alistair Carins, who used to run Pedlars Hall Cafe on the Market Place in Swaffham, had sought to overturn his convictions and slash his “disproportionate” prison sentence.

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The 70-year-old was jailed five and a half years at Norwich Crown Court in February 2023 after being found guilty of eight counts of sexual assault and four counts of sexual activity with a child.

His trial heard he was a “sexual predator” who groomed six young women and children with inappropriate comments and text messages before molesting them.

After putting his hands down the trousers of one young woman he asked what colour knickers she had on, telling her he would buy her some silky ones.

On another occasion he slapped the bottom of a 15-year-old before grabbing her kickers, licking her neck and referring to her as his "sexy little slut".

Carins, formerly of Brandon Road, Hilborough, applied to the Court of Appeal to challenge his conviction arguing there had been errors in his trial.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal dismissed attempts to overturn his conviction or reduce sentence (Image: PA)

He claimed defence witnesses not being allowed to give full evidence, CCTV footage was shown, and no medical evidence had been sought to prove he could not have committed the offences due to injuries from a road traffic accident.

Three appeal judges - Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, Lady Justice Cockerill and Mr Justice Bryan - refused the application as “without merit”.

In their judgement they said no medical case had been put forward and “there is no evidence to support such an argument”.

A lack of CCTV evidence “does not render the convictions unsafe”, they added.

They also dismissed an appeal against his sentence that claimed it was “manifestly excessive” and failed to take into account mitigating factors.

They stated: “We are in no doubt whatsoever that the total sentence passed was just and proportionate having regard to all of the offending behaviour and the aggravating and mitigating factors in the case.”

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