TWO friends who sexually assaulted a charity worker before strangling her and keeping her body in a car boot for two days have failed in an appeal against their murder convictions.
TWO friends who sexually assaulted a charity worker before strangling her and keeping her body in a car boot for two days have failed in an appeal against their murder convictions.
The Court of Appeal in London ruled there was nothing unsafe about the verdicts returned in January last year by an Ipswich Crown Court jury at the trial of Robert McCarry, 37, and Paul Waters, 29, who are both from Ipswich.
The pair are serving life sentences for the murder of 34-year-old Nicola West, of Little Blakenham, in February 2007.
McCarry, who was convicted of rape and murder, must stay in prison for at least 24 years and Waters, convicted of attempted rape and murder, for a minimum of 18 years before being considered for parole.
During the trial, the court heard that Miss West, who worked at a hospice, was raped and strangled after drinking with the men in a pub.
They drove round with her body in the boot of a car before going to the police 48 hours later. They claimed her death was an accident during sexual activity to which she consented.
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