On 24 March 2009, the two appellants addressed the California court themselves before Judge Rose Peters. According to the neo-nazi website Lasha Darkmoon, the two men claimed that their actions in England were legal because they were based upon the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 when England expelled all Jews living in the country at the time, and the two said that since the edict has never been repealed (like all royal decrees, it could only be cancelled by a living king or queen of England), their anti-semitism was backed by British law and they were eligible for asylum due to being persecuted for their beliefs. On 5 April 2009, with reasons reserved, Sheppard and Whittle were denied asylum, upon which the former stated that they would not appeal, and they were deported and returned to prison in the United Kingdom on 17 June 2009. On 10 July 2009, Sheppard was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison, and his co-defendant, Whittle, was convicted of five similar offences. These sentences for publishing material on the Internet were described as "groundbreaking" by Adil Khan, representing Humberside police, whilst Sheppard's lawyer, Adrian Davies, said in his defence during the trial that he had come from a "very troubled background" and revealed that his mother had committed suicide, whilst noting that Sheppard was an intelligent man who had problems with authority, especially the police. In January 2010, Sheppard and Whittle lost an appeal against their convictions, but succeeded in having their sentences reduced slightly.