An Austrian court on Monday sentenced British historian David Irving to three years in jail for denying the occurrence of the Holocaust.

The verdict by a jury of eight lay jurors and three judges was harsher than some legal experts had expected. It came after a one-day trial in which Mr Irving pleaded guilty to denying the second world war genocide of Jews during visit he made to Austria in 1989. Austria has one of the toughest Holocaust-denial laws in Europe.