Kevin Nunn: Lifer loses forensic tests fight eight years after murder conviction

Dawn Walker, the former girlfriend of Kevin Nunn, who is serving life in prison for her murder (Handout/PA Wire)

A salesman serving life in prison for murdering his former girlfriend has lost a fight at the UK's highest court to have key forensic exhibits retested.

Supreme Court justices unanimously rejected an appeal by Kevin Nunn, who was convicted in 2006 of the murder of Dawn Walker after her partially clothed body was found on the bank of the River Lark in Suffolk, but he claims he is innocent.

Nunn's legal team were trying to force Suffolk Police to give them access to key forensic evidence linked to the case that they said was not properly examined at the time.

This includes sperm found on Miss Walker's body after she died in February 2005, from which the original investigators were unable to get a full DNA profile.

Nunn was refused permission to appeal against his conviction in 2007, and in 2012 his attempts to get Suffolk Police to grant access to key exhibits were also turned down.

Prosecutors said he killed Miss Walker in a jealous rage after she left him for a man with whom she had previously had a relationship.

PA