The BBC's John Young reports on the verdict

Lynn's grandmother Florence Siddons, 83, who campaigned to bring her killer to justice, was in court to hear the appeal judges say they had "no lurking doubt" about the safety of 53-year-old Brookes's conviction.

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Brookes, serving a minimum 26-year life sentence, had argued he did not get a fair trial, partly because of the intense media coverage of the campaign - including a civil damages action in which a judge said he was the murderer.

After the ruling by three judges headed by Lord Bingham, the Lord Chief Justice, Mrs Siddons said: "We've been going for 20 years now and I am very pleased with the result."

Lynn's mother, Gail Halford, 53, said: "We are really pleased because he would have been a free man if he had won the appeal. Now he must serve his sentence. He deserved what he got."

Lynn's grandmother fought a lengthy campaign

The confirmation of Brookes as the killer is the culmination of a lengthy campaign waged by Florence Siddons.

A friend of 16-year-old Lynn, Fitzroy Brookes, confessed to the murder, but was acquitted at his trial after accusing his stepfather Michael of the murder.

Mrs Siddons' case was greatly helped when, in a civil trial in the High Court in 1991, Mr Justice Rougier ordered Brookes to pay her family damages, declaring that he had no doubt the man was responsible for the killing.

It was only then that Derbyshire Police, who accepted criticism of the way they had handled the case, charged Brookes with the murder.

Five years later he was tried, convicted and jailed.