Cambridge student Charlie Gilmour yesterday lost his appeal against his 16 month prison sentence for violent disorder during the tuition fees protest last December.

His appeal was rejected by Lord Justice Hughes who considered the original sentence not be either “arguably manifestly excessive or wrong in principle.”

He added that it: "correctly took account of both the defendant's serious and dangerous acts in this inflammatory context and of his normal character".

In appealing his sentence, Gilmour’s lawyer David Spen argued that the sentence should be reduced so that Gilmour can finish degree.

Spen said that: “This sentence as unduly harsh, unnecessarily so, his potential, like that of other young people in his position is being wasted while he spends too long in prison.”

The judges also heard how Gilmour had addressed his “underlying drug and alcohol problems” and that he had “successfully reformed and rehabilitated himself.”

Gilmour, who is a History student at Girton, was sentenced last July for a series of incidents including jumping on the bonnet of a Jaguar in the royal convoy and throwing a rubbish bin at the vehicles.

Support had grown for Gilmour including 13 signatories from Cambridge Academic Campaign for Higher Education who in July wrote in a letter to The Guardian that “Those of us who are concerned to defend the right to dissent and protest in a democratic polity must speak out against the political message embodied by this extraordinary symbolic sentence".

They also stated that his sentence was: "Manifestly exceeding a judicious and reasonable punishment for Charlie's action.”

Gilmour could still be out as soon as next March having served half of his sentence, but the news is still a big blow to his academic prospects.