The 44 year-old lawyer was jailed earlier this year after his interviews with clients inside a police station were secretly recorded.

Sandu from Colby Avenue, Derry, pleaded guilty to incitement to murder and four charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

However, he is now set to contest the severity of the sentence at a hearing set for December.

Judges in the Court of Appeal also ordered transcripts of defence pleas made during the original trial be disclosed to his legal team.

Sandhu, who practised out of offices in Limavady, was arrested in January 2006.

The charges against him arose from the attempted assassination of a taxi driver and two killings during a power struggle between the UVF and rival LVF in 2005.