Deaf charity worker Ian Stillman, who is in jail in India on drugs charges, has lost his right to appeal.

A judge in India's Supreme Court decided today not to grant him leave to appeal against his 10-year sentence imposed in June last year for the alleged possession of 20kg of cannabis. He repeated an earlier ruling that Ian, whose parents live in Tadcaster Road, York, was not deaf.

The 51-year-old, who had a leg amputated after a road accident and also has diabetes, has been profoundly deaf since childhood.

His sister Elspeth Dugdale said today: "The judge said that the High Court judge had found at a previous hearing that Ian was only hard of hearing, and if that's what he says then that's it.

"The other thing he said is that it's commonly known that disabled people, such as the deaf, are used for drug trafficking purposes, so it's quite conceivable that Ian had been involved in something like this.

"That is a preposterous thing to say. If such a generalisation was said in a British court, the judge would be forced to resign."

She said lawyers were studying the case to see what the way forward was.

"Our lawyers say that it is a constitutional issue because Ian was denied a fair trial at the beginning. If that's the case, the Supreme Court would not have the right to dismiss it, and we'll be looking at that over the next few days."

The Evening Press has been campaigning for Ian's release.

Updated: 11:12 Monday, May 06, 2002