Langham loses sentence reduction appeal

Chris Langham has lost his appeal to have his 10-month jail sentence for downloading child pornography reduced.

The award-winning comedian was jailed last month at Maidstone Crown Court after being found guilty on 15 counts of downloading images of young children.

Langham, who claimed he had viewed the pictures as research for a paedophile character he was due to play, was cleared of having sexual intercourse with an underage girl.

A judge revealed his appeal for a shorter sentence had been rejected today, although he can renew his application if he wishes.

The Thick Of It star is due to be released next year after serving about half of his sentence.

Langham was arrested in 2005 after video footage showing a child being abused was found on his computer at his home. He insisted it was just for research for his show Help and to facilitate his coming to terms with abuse that he had suffered as a child.