A HUSBAND and wife who abused a schoolgirl have failed in challenges against their convictions at London s Court of Appeal. Susan Guyett and Douglas Guyett, both of Burford Way, Hitchin were jailed at Luton Crown Court in April. Susan Guyett, 57, was foun

A HUSBAND and wife who abused a schoolgirl have failed in challenges against their convictions at London's Court of Appeal.

Susan Guyett and Douglas Guyett, both of Burford Way, Hitchin were jailed at Luton Crown Court in April.

Susan Guyett, 57, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child. She got three years.

Her husband, 82, was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child and received a five-year jail term.

Today (Tuesday), lawyers for the pair argued the convictions were "unsafe" and should be quashed.

Barrister Christopher Kerr, for Douglas Guyett, told the Court of Appeal that material not disclosed to defence lawyers at the trial could have undermined the prosecution case.

And he also told three top judges that the trial judge's summing up to the jury following a 10-day trial had been biased against the case put forward for the defence.

Lawyers for Susan Guyett backed Mr Kerr's arguments.

But, after listening to nearly a day of legal argument, Lord Justice Stanley Burton, sitting with Mr Justice Butterfield and Judge Findlay Baker QC, dismissed the appeals against conviction.

He said the court would give reasons for the decision at a later date.

However the judges did grant both Guyetts permission to appeal against their sentences. Those appeals will also be heard at a later date.

The court heard the pair were alleged to have abused a schoolgirl in the 1980s on a number of occasions.