The Court of Appeal has finished hearing a legal challenge against the conviction of Sion Jenkins for the murder of his foster daughter, Billie-Jo.

Judgement was reserved, but the judges said they would try to give a ruling by early next week, after studying the evidence presented to them.

The 41-year-old former deputy headmaster was jailed for life at Lewes Crown Court last year.

The court found he killed Billie-Jo, 13, in the garden of the family home in Hastings, East Sussex, in February 1997, by bludgeoning her to death with a metal tent spike.

His legal team want appeal judges Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Dyson and Mr Justice Penry-Davey to rule that the verdict was "unsafe and unsatisfactory".

Much of the evidence presented during the nine-day hearing was complex and scientific, focusing on blood from Billie-Jo which was found on Jenkins' clothes.

Jurors at the trial were told that the 150 microscopic blood spots could only have resulted from his being close to the girl as she was being struck.

But the appeal heard that the blood could have come from a brief expiration of air from her lungs as Jenkins held her after the attack.

Mr Anthony Scrivener QC, for Jenkins, has also complained about misdirections by the trial judge.