MURDERER Jeremy Bamber will make a fresh legal bid to overturn his convictions for killing five relatives in Essex more than 25 years ago, it’s been confirmed.

Last month a High Court judge rejected his attempt to seek judicial review of a refusal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal.

His bid was rejected by a single judge after studying the case papers in private. But the Judicial Office confirmed today that Bamber, 51, will renew his application at a hearing in open court.

Bamber - who is serving a whole life term for the 1985 killings - has always protested his innocence and claims his schizophrenic sister Sheila Caffell shot her family before turning the gun on herself in a remote Essex farmhouse.

The decision not to refer his case was made earlier this year by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), an independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice. The evidence that had gone before the CCRC surrounded the analysis of burn marks found on the body of Neville Bamber and gunshot wounds on his sister.

When announcing its decision in April, the CCRC said that despite a lengthy and complex investigation, it “has not identified any evidence or legal argument that it considers capable of raising a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would quash the convictions.”

Bamber’s lawyer Simon McKay said: “We’ve got to keep moving on and there is still a lot of fight left in Jeremy and determination on my part.

“We are confident that in the end Jeremy will prevail, whether it will be on this application remains to be seen. I think the CCRC was wrong and the courts should give him permission to review the decision.

“If it does not come this time, then we will begin a new application.

“He’s obviously disappointed with the latest decision, but he’s fairly philosophical and still determined to continue the fight to clear his name.”

Bamber’s latest application is unlikely to be heard before the new year.