A former Sunday Telegraph journalist jailed for rape has had his sentence increased after it was deemed to be too short.

Ben Leapman, 44, formerly of Eynsford in Kent, was convicted on July 11 of raping a woman and was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on September 16 to seven years in prison.

The Court of Appeal has now decided the original sentence was unduly lenient and has increased it to 10 years.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC referred the case to the Court of Appeal, where it was heard on December 4.

Mr Buckland said: “I am pleased to note Leapman’s term of imprisonment has been increased to 10 years.

“I asked the Court of Appeal to revisit this case as I felt original sentence failed to reflect the seriousness of the offending.”

Judge Martin Joy said during the original sentencing: "The fact is you caused your victim considerable distress, psychological harm and pain and loss of her own dignity, her self-worth and her self-esteem.

"She described in her victim statement feeling useless and no good.

"It's quite clear that there was degradation and humiliation of her by you.

"You are a person of previous good character, a distinguished man in your profession, but behind closed doors you were behaving in this way."

The original nine-day trial of Cambridge-educated Leapman came after he was given a suspended sentence for having extreme pornographic material on his laptop.

Police raided his home on November 26, 2012, after which he resigned from his job and his marriage broke down.

Leapman had worked at the Sunday Telegraph as a deputy news editor and helped break the MPs’ expenses scandal.