FORMER Old Ride School worker Patricia Kettlety is so disgusted by the sentence handed to paedophile teacher Peter Hamilton-Leggett she is asking Home Secretary David Blunkett to review the case.

Two weeks ago Hamilton-Leggett was jailed for eight years after admitting 54 charges of abuse on 19 pupils, some as young as eight.

Mrs Kettlety, 52, worked on the catering staff at the Bradford on Avon school from 1975 until it closed in 1990.

She said she is appalled with the punishment and plans to send a copy of the Wiltshire Times featuring the Hamilton-Leggett court case, to Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Mrs Kettlety, of Elmfield, Bradford, said: "I was totally shocked when I read about his sentence in the paper. I was in floods of tears when I phoned the police detective about it. He (Hamilton-Leggett) should have got more for damaging so many children's lives. He could be out in as little as four years.

"A lot of people are unhappy about it. I hope to get some support even if I have to stand in Trow-bridge myself and get it."

Like most people, Mrs Kettlety, now a cleaner at St Laurence School, was deceived by the biology and chemistry teacher. Outwardly Hamilton-Leggett, of Old Station Lane, Yelverton, Devon, remained a pillar of society wherever he lived, hiding his awful secret from colleagues, parents and friends.

"He was always friendly and charming but I thought he was too friendly and charming a little bit slimy," said Mrs Kettlety.

"He was not one of my favourite teachers, and I was concerned he was a bit too friendly with the children. At the end of the day he is not a nice man. He is just a devious paedophile."

A court heard how Hamilton-Leggett, 58, preyed on vulnerable, lonely pupils, singling out his favourites and inviting them back to his room, offering them treats or telling them they could play on his computer.

His string of offences included indecent assault and serious sexual assault.