A former Pembroke mayor’s bid to challenge his convictions for child abuse offences has been rejected by senior judges.

The case of David Boswell (known as Dai) of Bush Street, Pembroke Dock, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in July last year after being convicted of raping and indecently assaulting two young girls during the 1990s, returned to court last week when Lord Justice Hickinbottom, Mr Justice Lewis, and Mr Justice Jacobs sat as the Court of Appeal in Swansea.

It was argued on Mr. Boswell’s behalf in written legal submissions to the court that there were issues with the way the judge in the original trial had handled the jury’s request to see the victims’ videoed interviews for a second time.

The principle complaint was that after the jurors saw the footage again the judge failed to properly summarise the cross-examination of the defendants and did not remind the jury of the defendant’s case.

Mr Justice Jacobs said he and his fellow appeal judges could find nothing in the way the trial judge had approached the request to see the video statements, nor in his handling of the summarising of the cross-examination and defence case, that could arguably be said to have led to an unfairness.

The bid to seek leave to appeal against the conviction was refused.

After his trial at Swansea Crown Court, Mr. Boswell was sentenced to 18 years in prison, put on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order to control his access to children aged under 16.