British revisionist historian David Irving, who was jailed earlier this year in Austria, could be out in a matter of months, according to his new lawyer. He was jailed for three years by a court in Vienna for denying the Holocaust – an offence under Austrian law – in speeches given in 1989.

But his lawyer Herbert Schaller, believes an appeals court will overturn his verdict and says they are now just waiting for a decision, which he expects by the autumn.

Schaller said: "I don’t think the Supreme Court has any other choice than to overrule the verdict as grave errors were made in the initial trial. The sentence imposed on my client is ridiculously long - child abusers often don’t get half of that. I personally find the matter outrageous.

"Mr Irving was thrown into prison for something that he said 17 years ago. There really is no legal ground for the dubious decision made so far, and I am not even contemplating the possibility that the Supreme Court will uphold the verdict.

"Even if they still find him guilty, I am confident they will considerably reduce his sentence." Public prosecutors, on the other hand, are seeking a longer sentence, up to the maximum 10 years for the crime. Schaller, who served in the German army during World War II, is well-known in nationalist circles.

Irving, 67, is busy writing his memoirs, entitled ‘Irving’s War’.  Speaking after his initial trial in February, Irving said that he was locked up for 23 hours a day and had only one hour’s exercise "in a yard half the size of my drawing room in Queen Anne’s Gate".

He also makes good use of the prison library, although he was refused books on Auschwitz he had asked for, and said that prison was a "good place for a writer to be – the solitude is good".

But he has been banned from talking to the press after continuing to question the Holocaust in several interviews following the verdict – a move that could see him spending more time in jail since public prosecutors in Vienna said that they were looking at filing new charges against him for denying the Holocaust in public once again.

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