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TORONTO - A former police officer serving a jail sentence for refusing to testify at a public inquiry he helped spark is appealing his contempt conviction, but still has no plans to give evidence at the sex-abuse probe.

Perry Dunlop, who had previously represented himself, has engaged prominent Ottawa counsel Lawrence Greenspon to handle the appeal, which he initially filed himself as an inmate.

Dunlop's personal challenge of his civil contempt conviction, which was addressed in a Kingston, Ont., courtroom two weeks ago, has now been converted into what's called a solicitor's appeal under Greenspon.

"There is an appeal pending," Greenspon said in an interview.

The lawyer, who has just taken on the case, said he was still delving into the file and had few further details about the nature of the appeal.

"I haven't really gotten into the full background of it yet."

Dunlop, 46, was convicted of both civil and criminal contempt of court in March after he ignored an order from the inquiry in Cornwall, Ont., to testify and then defied a court order that he do so.

He said he had no faith in the public inquiry or the justice system.

"This whole thing should be thrown out," Dunlop's wife, Helen, said from their home in Duncan, B.C.

"They're punishing Perry because he won't acquiesce to the powers that be. We won't be part of the cover-up."

The long-running judicial inquiry is probing how the police and other public institutions responded to allegations of systemic sexual abuse, dating back decades, in the eastern Ontario city.

Dunlop was a police officer in Cornwall in 1993 when he began probing, on his own time, an alleged pedophile ring that supposedly involved senior civic officials, clergymen, police and others.

A provincial police probe that followed resulted in just one conviction and found no evidence of a ring.

The Dunlops remain steadfast in their belief that the ring was real and that they're the victims of a far-reaching conspiracy to conceal the truth.

In March, Dunlop was sentenced to six months on the civil contempt charge.

He faces further jail time when his civil sentence expires in September and he's then sentenced for the criminal contempt.

The commission has also given Dunlop notice that it may make several adverse findings against him.

Dunlop's lawyer said no decision has been made as to whether he will now testify, something which could end his current incarceration on the civil conviction and mitigate his punishment on the criminal one.