The family of a deaf British charity worker jailed for ten years in India for possessing cannabis have vowed to continue their fight to clear his name.

Ian Stillman, 51, from York, lost his appeal against conviction after a High Court judge in India rejected the claim that his first trial was unfair.

He was jailed in June after being arrested in the foothills of the Himalayas in August 2000 and charged with possessing 20kg of cannabis.

Indian police found the drug in a green bag with him in the back of a taxi, but Mr Stillman, who has an artificial leg following a road accident, said he had never seen it before.

Lawyers for the charity worker had argued his trial was unfair because his profound deafness excluded him from the proceedings. They were carried out in Hindi, forcing him to lip-read snatches of the translation from his legal team.

The full reasons for the refusal of the appeal were not yet known and a written judgment was not expected for several days.

However, Mr Stillman's sister, Elspeth Dugdale, said she had been told that the High Court judge in Simla, north of Delhi, had said he believed Mr Stillman was faking his deafness.

Ms Dugdale, from Romsey, Hampshire, said: "We don't know all the reasons for the appeal being turned down, but I think the judge referred to something in his notes, which said they did not accept that Ian is deaf.

"I find that outrageous. He is profoundly deaf, a two-year-old child would know that he can't hear.''

She said: "We are bitterly disappointed. It is not at all what we hoped for. We haven't had time to think 'What now?', but we will appeal straight to the Supreme Court."

Ms Dugdale said her brother would not know of the court's decision, as he was in jail in Simla and had not attended the appeal hearings.

His son, Lennie, was staying nearby and would visit the prison to tell him, she said.

Mr Stillman would have been incapable of carrying 20kg of cannabis because the amputation of his leg had left him with balance difficulties, she added.

Stephen Jakobi, of the campaign group Fair Trials Abroad, which has been working on Mr Stillman's behalf, said the decision was a slap in the face for the deaf community