'Evil' Swanscombe killer Colin Ash-Smith to appeal Claire Tiltman murder conviction today

Colin Ash-Smith, 47, was jailed for life with a minimum 21 year sentence in December last year - for the "frenzied, rapid and brazen attack on the teenager", following a five-week trial at Inner London Crown Court.

The former milkman, from Milton Street in Swanscombe, stabbed the Dartford Grammar pupil nine times, in the alleyway off London Road in 1993.

Claire had set out at around 6.10pm to walk less than a mile from her home in Woodward Terrace, Stone, to her friend Victoria Swift's in Riverview Road.

The pair had planned to discuss Claire's college choices but she never made it there. It was just four days after her 16th birthday.

During the trial, the jury heard that Ash-Smith had been a friend of Claire's family, and had even attended her funeral.

He had previously been convicted for the attempted murder of two other women in their 20s.

Claire's case remained unsolved for two decades, but Ash-Smith was charged in February last year following a cold case review by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

Her parents Cliff and Lin never gave up hope of finding justice for their daughter - but died before the trial came to court.

Cliff Tiltman, with a picture of his daughter

Following the trial, Detective Superintendent Rob Vinson said: "This is an evil man and he needs to be in prison."

Ash-Smith's appeal is expected to be heard at the Court of Appeal, on the Strand - by Lord Justice Davis, Mr Justice Warby and the Recorder of Maidstone.

They could dismiss the appeal, or order a retrial.

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