Elderly man appeals hitman hire sentence

A wealthy, elderly West Australian businessman's lawyers argue the jail term he was handed for attempting to have his former daughter-in-law murdered was excessive.

Brian Vincent Attwell, 74, was in November last year found guilty by a jury of the rare offence of attempting to procure the commission of a crime, following a five-day trial in the Albany Justice Complex.

The court heard Attwell had asked a man, who approached him desperate for work with his civil contracting company, to kill Michelle Patreena Attwell after becoming frustrated with a protracted, bitter legal dispute between her and his son following the breakdown of their marriage.

The man informed police, who instructed him to set up a meeting between Attwell and an undercover policeman.

Attwell paid the policeman $10,000 in two instalments as a down payment on the $30,000 job.

In the West Australian Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Attwell's lawyer Tom Percy said his client's eight-and-a-half year sentence was manifestly excessive, citing the diabetic's old age and infirmity.

Attwell was present in a wheelchair.

Prosecutor Joseph McGrath said the penalty had already been modified by the sentencing judge, who took into account how difficult imprisonment would be for a man like Attwell.

Mr McGrath said the sentence was well within the appropriate range, considering Attwell had been calculating, motivated by animosity and a desire to settle Family Court proceedings between the intended victim and his son, and he'd shown no remorse or acceptance of responsibility for his actions.

The appeal judges have reserved their decision.