Sex killer tries to overturn conviction

The family of schoolteacher Jane Longhurst today watched the man responsible for her "bizarre and macabre" death try to overturn his murder conviction.

Musician Graham Coutts, 35, was jailed for life in February for throttling Miss Longhurst to fulfil his sexual fantasies. The special- needs teacher had been the best friend of Coutts's pregnant lover.

She was never again seen alive after going to meet him for a swim in March last year. Today Coutts, from Hove, spoke only to confirm his name and did not glance at the family yards away.

He claims Miss Longhurst, 31, died during "breath-control play sex". His barrister, Edward Fitzgerald QC, urged the three Appeal Court judges to substitute a sentence for manslaughter.

He said the judge at Coutts's Lewes Crown Court trial had failed to offer manslaughter to the jury as an alternative verdict.

It is understood that Coutts is also challenging the judge's decision to let the jury hear about his obsession with violent pornographic websites of the kind that Miss Longhurst's mother Liz, 72, and sister Sue Barnett, 31, now want banned.

The hearing is expected to last two days.