DISGRACED coroner Jeremy Cave is to appeal against his sentence.

The solicitor was jailed for 3 years earlier this month after a jury convicted him of stealing £155,000 from dead clients' estates over a period of ten years.

Cave, 53, who faces a Law Society disciplinary hearing next month, is now back in Holme House prison, Stockton, after being discharged from hospital following a heart attack.

His solicitor, Peter Boddy, has confirmed that he had spoken to Cave and that he would be pursuing an appeal.

"An appeal against the sentence will be lodged," he said. "We are awaiting reports at this time."

Cave, coroner for North Yorkshire West, who had his own practice in Thirsk, was convicted on six counts of theft at Teesside Crown Court.

He was cleared of one charge and the judge ordered that two more should lie on file after a jury failed to reach verdicts.

Cave, who was suffering with sight problems during his trial, collapsed with a heart attack in his Holme House cell days after being jailed.

Friends blamed his illness on the stress of the nine-week trial and the shock of being jailed. Last week, civil rights campaigners expressed outrage after it was revealed that he had been handcuffed while on his hospital sickbed.