Convicted fraudster George Finbar Ross was optimistic as he left court yesterday at the end of his three-day appeal. "This matter has dragged on for four years and I am hopeful of a successful conclusion," said Ross outside the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

Cork-born Ross (54) was convicted last October and sentenced to 21/2 years imprisonment for deception by unlawfully procuring investments in the Gibraltar-based company he founded, International Investments Ltd.

The company went bust in 1983 owing around £7.3 million (E;9.3 million) to investors, most from Northern Ireland.

The main thrust of Ross's appeal was a submission by Mr Arthur Harvey, QC, that the trial judge, Lord Justice McCollum, in his charge to the jury "was so unbalanced as to be unfair". Ross's solicitor Mr Joe Rice said after the appeal: "We await the judgment as soon as possible. My client has served the equivalent of a four-year prison sentence." Mr Rice was referring to the time Ross spent in Oklahoma prison in the US fighting extradition back to Northern Ireland after the RUC Fraud Squad obtained warrants for his arrest.

The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell, who heard the appeal along with Lord Justice Nicholson and Mr Justice Coghlin, said it was an unusual case and they would give a written judgment which would take some time to prepare. Sir Robert told Ross he was free to remain on bail but would have to surrender himself on the day the result of his appeal was to be announced. Ross had been granted bail within a short period of being jailed in Ocober 2000, after a judge was told he would have been due for release within days if the authorities had taken account of the time he was in custody in the US fighting extradition.