The mother of a murderer has lost her posthumous appeal against his conviction.

Darren Liston had served eight months of a minimum 18-year jail term for the murder of chemistry technician Anthony Fernandes in July 2008.

The 28-year-old, formerly of Derby Road, Croydon, was found hanging in his cell in Wandsworth Prison in February this year.

His mother launched a Court of Appeal challenge against the verdict but on Novmeber 8 three judges rejected claims he was wrongly convicted.

Liston had been convicted alongside fellow defendants 44-year-old Paul Maddix and 17-year-old Jason Terry.

The original trial heard how Mr Fernandes, 46, suffered more than a dozen knife wounds after the trio had broke in to his house in Windmill Road following an afternoon drinking session in Wandle Park, Croydon, with one of the weapons snapping clean in half because of the force used.

The court heard how the trio had spent the afternoon of July 28, 2008 drinking in the park and discussing their experiences of being homeless, when Liston suggested visiting Mr Fernandes, who worked at Epsom College, to see if they could stay with him because he was an “easy touch”.

The jury was told the men took a minicab to Windmill Road, and Maddix and the youth smashed a glass pane in Mr Fernandes’ front door to gain access to the house.

When he asked them to leave the situation became ugly and murderous, the court heard, and the men fell on him with at least four separate knives, with many of the wounds slashes to his back.

Maddix claimed to have committed the murder alone as he phoned the emergency services for help, but was heard telling the other two to leave the flat during the call.

The trial heard how Liston wandered the streets after the attack, making calls from telephone boxes before throwing away the blood-stained t-shirt he was wearing.

The grounds of appeal were that Liston was less culpable than the other defendents, and could have been cleared if the judge had allowed so-called "hearsay evidence" to go before the jury.

But Lord Justice Gross, Mr Justice Openshaw and Mr Justice Lindblom, backed the trial judge's decision not to admit the evidence and rejected the appeal.