An appeal by a religious teacher to have his ten-week prison sentence for kicking and slapping children reduced has been thrown out.

Appeal Judge Shaun Spencer QC on Friday told 60-year-old Sabir Hussain that the sentence passed on November 23 was acceptable and would not be suspended or reduced.

Hussain, of Spencer Street, Keighley, was arrested after he was secretly filmed assaulting boys at the Markazi Jamai Mosque in Emily Street, Lawkholme, where he was teaching them the Koran last December. He admitted four charges of assault. The footage was screened on Channel 4.

After his sentence was initially imposed, the appeal was immediately lodged.

At the appeal hearing at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Spencer said: “The gravity of the offences means they are too serious to be dealt with by way of a fine or community sentence. We have considered the length of sentence imposed and it seems to us that it generously reflects the guilty pleas.

“In those circumstances we feel we must dismiss the appeal.”

Hussain’s barrister Shufqat Khan had told the court that his client was “caring and compassionate” and unlikely to be before the court again.

He had said that character references referred to Hussain, who is at Armley Jail in Leeds, as a “pillar of the community”.