In January, James Edwin Langley, 68, was sentenced to ten years behind bars at Lewes Crown Court after being convicted of five counts of rape, one attempted rape and eight indecent assaults.

On Wednesday, Langley, of High Street, Battle, appealed the sentence, claiming that his failing health justified a lesser term of imprisonment.

But, in a short hearing at the Criminal Appeal Court in London, he was told that the ten-year sentence was perfectly justified and, if anything, he was lucky not to get more.

Mr Justice Underhill, who heard the appeal with Lord Justice Hooper and Mr Justice Silber, said Langley could have expected a longer sentence for such grave offences.

"The truth is that he was fortunate to receive the sentence which he did for offences of this gravity," the judge told the court.

Langley abused one girl when she was as young as eight, first by away of inappropriate kissing and touching, but then progressing to full sex, sometimes in his lorry.

Another girl was forced to masturbate him and perform oral sex.

Lawyers representing the OAP, although accepting the sentences would be "unchallengeable" in normal circumstances, argued that his personal mitigation justified a reduction.

Medical reports showed him to be suffering from a series of health difficulties, including lung disease, which increased his risk of sudden death.

And he had also come to terms with his crimes and begun to show remorse for what he had done, the judges were told.

But, dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Underhill said the Crown Court judge had paid full attention to all of Langley's mitigation and sentenced on that basis.

"We can see no basis on which this sentence could be said to be excessive in any way, and we must dismiss this appeal," he said.