The partner of former EastEnders star Sian Blake has lost a challenge against his "whole-life" jail sentence for murdering her and their two young children.

Arthur Simpson-Kent, 50, failed to persuade Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and two other leading judges at the Court of Appeal in London that the term should be reduced.

He killed Ms Blake, 43, and their sons, Zachary, eight, and four-year-old Amon, after the actress, who was terminally-ill with motor neurone disease, planned to leave him and take the boys with her.

All three were repeatedly hit on the head before being stabbed in the neck or throat by Simpson-Kent, who painted over bloodstains to hide the brutal murders at their bungalow in Erith, in December 2015.

He then buried them in the back garden and told relatives and the police they had gone to see friends before fleeing to his native Ghana.

Simpson-Kent, who admitted three counts of murder, was sentenced at the Old Bailey last October by a judge who said he had been left in "no doubt'' he should receive the most severe punishment available for his ''truly horrific'' crimes.

Lord Thomas, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mrs Justice May upheld his decision at a hearing on Tuesday.