A pervert former teacher who was jailed for sexually abusing three pupils deserves every day of his six-year jail sentence, top judges today said.

Terence Peter Back, 72, was accused of attacks while working at Kingsway Junior School, in Watford, and Whitehall Junior School, in Uxbridge.

The pensioner, of Rookhurst Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, denied any wrongdoing, but was found guilty by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court.

He was jailed for six years in July for indecent assaults on three former pupils.

Today, he appealed, but top judges at the Court of Appeal said the sentence was richly deserved for the serious abuse.

"This was the gravest abuse of trust," Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said. "He was a teacher in the schools in which he preyed on these three children."

The offences took place in the 1970s and 1980s, but did not come to police attention until a victim came forward with her account in 2013.

The court heard the abuse involved him pulling down the clothing of the children and smacking their bottoms.

Lawyers for Back today argued before Lord Justice Beatson, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave and Judge Geoffrey Marson QC that the sentence was too long.

The offending was at the lower end of the scale for such cases, the judges were told, although it was accepted Back had betrayed the victims' trust.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said six years was "just and proportionate".

"The victims in this case were young, aged eight to 11," he said.

"It is important to remember that this is a case involving multiple counts in relation to each of these three separate victims.

"The victim impact in this case was significant."

The appeal bid was refused.