A CHEF jailed for life for bludgeoning his wife to death with a club hammer has been granted leave to appeal against his conviction for murder.A date has not yet been set for 44-year-old Colin Dorey's hearing in London's Court of Appeal, but it is thought his case will be re-examined within the next 18 months.

A CHEF jailed for life for bludgeoning his wife to death with a club hammer has been granted leave to appeal against his conviction for murder.

A date has not yet been set for 44-year-old Colin Dorey's hearing in London's Court of Appeal, but it is thought his case will be re-examined within the next 18 months.

A trial was told the father-of-three repeatedly battered his 37-year-old wife Christine in the head and face as she dozed on the sofa at the couple's home in Bury St Edmunds in January 2001. Their young children were all asleep upstairs at the time of the incident.

Dorey denied murdering the mother of his children but admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter. He was tried at Ipswich Crown Court after prosecutors refused to accept this guilty plea, and was convicted of murder on a majority verdict.

"Leave to appeal has been granted, but no date has been fixed as yet," said a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service.

"Such appeals can take between six and 18 months to take place. We have not yet received notification of the grounds on which the appeal has been lodged."

Christine's parents, Hugh and Sue Buxton, have taken responsibility for their three grandchildren since the fateful events of Christmas 2001, saying they were effectively orphaned by the incident.

After hearing of Dorey's plans to appeal earlier this year, they reaffirmed their faith in the jury's verdict, saying the case had been heard fairly and fully during the eight-day trial in August 2002.

"We relied upon the country's justice system to prove a case," said Mr Buxton, who works for the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket. "We feel it has been proved, and every opportunity was given for the case to be presented to its full extent. We stand by that."

And following their son-in-law's conviction, they issued a joint statement saying: "There can be no joy as a result of the jury's decision.

"Colin Dorey's actions have deprived us of our daughter and our grandchildren of their mother.

"This event will impact on the children, ourselves and our family for the rest of our lives. The repercussions of his actions will always be felt by our family and, we are sure, his family."