Updated

Disgraced former BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall had his sentence doubled to two-and-a-half years at the Court of Appeal on Friday for a string of historic sexual offences against young girls.

Three judges sitting at the court in London ruled that the original 15-month term handed to Hall was "inadequate" in light of the gravity of the offences and should be raised to 30 months.

Hall, 83, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, last month admitted 14 counts of indecent assault against girls aged from nine to 17 between 1967 and 1987.

Handing down the reviewed sentence, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said Hall "got away with it" for decades and had "lived a lie for more than half of his life".

Hall, who had initially described the claims against him as "cruel, pernicious and spurious" before entering a guilty plea in April, listened to Friday's proceedings via video link from HMP Preston, with his head bowed.

The former "It's A Knockout" presenter was sentenced at Preston Crown Court last month but his sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by Attorney General Dominic Grieve.

Grieve, who argued the case himself in court, said that the sentence was "unduly lenient" given the nature of the offences and failed to reflect public concern over such crimes.

"I asked the court to consider the multiple offending by Stuart Hall over a prolonged period of time which involved numerous victims," Grieve said after the ruling.

"I also asked that the court take into account the breaches of trust in this case -- Hall carried out some of these offences in places where the victims were entitled to feel safe, he used his celebrity status to invite them to attend the BBC, and he also displayed an element of planning and premeditation."

Grieve said he hoped the case would demonstrate that the law still applied to historic sexual offences "whoever the offender may be."

During Hall's trial his lawyer had argued that 27 years had passed since his last offence and insisted that the presenter had since led an "unblemished" life.