ROSEMARY West was refused leave to appeal against her conviction for the murder of 10 young women, including her 16 year old daughter, by the Lord Chief Justice at the High Court in London yesterday.
After a two day hearing Lord Taylor, who was sitting with Mr Justice Mitchell and Mr Justice Newman, refused West's application for leave to appeal and said he would deliver his judgment next week.
Outside the High Court, West's solicitor, Mr Leo Goatley, admitted, that his client had not been optimistic despite her claims of innocence and had decided not to attend the hearing because she felt it would be "too stressful".
"She said to me, `They are hardly likely to hand over the key are they? We thought it would be a long shot to have the appeal upheld. It came into the list very quickly and there was no fresh evidence. It was purely on matters arising from the trial.
"Obviously, if there is fresh evidence in the future, it can come back before the court," he added.
Mr Goatley said he would telephone West at Durham prison to inform her of the court's decision but he believed she would not be "particularly surprised or disappointed".
West was convicted last November at Winchester Crown Court of murdering 10 young women, including her daughter, Heather (16), and her daughter Charmaine (8), with her husband Fred at their homes in Gloucester.
All the victims had been sexually abused and their dismembered remains were discovered buried in the garden and under concrete floors in several rooms in the West's family home.
Fred West committed suicide while on remand in prison last January.
During the appeal hearing, Mr Richard Ferguson QC, who represented Rosemary West, argued that sensational media coverage and prejudicial evidence relating to her promiscuous sex life with both men and women meant that she had not received a fair trial.
However, Mr Brian Leveson QC for the prosecution told the appeal court that there had not been one complaint about the press coverage of the trial and that West had been "tried fairly and squarely"