A former US Marine jailed for life for the murder of a traffic policeman has lost a bid to challenge his conviction.
Bouncer David Bieber, now 40, was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in 2004 of the murder of Pc Ian Broadhurst on Boxing Day the previous year. He was also convicted of the attempted murders of two of the officer's colleagues.
At the Court of Appeal, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, sitting with two other judges, rejected his application for leave to appeal.
Bieber shot Pc Broadhurst in the head at point blank range as he pleaded for his life.
Lord Phillips said the prosecution evidence against Bieber was overwhelming and the grounds of appeal raised on his behalf were without merit.
Although he lost his attempt to challenge his conviction, Bieber was given the go-ahead to appeal against his whole-life sentence at a hearing to be arranged.
Lord Phillips said Bieber's grounds of appeal did not seek to challenge the evidence, but related to allegations of defects in procedure.
He said the court had concluded that "neither individually or as a whole is there any force in the grounds of appeal". The grounds had come "nowhere near throwing doubt on the verdict of the jury".
Pc Broadhurst, 34, was gunned down during a routine check on a stolen vehicle in Leeds. His colleagues Pcs Neil Roper, 45, and James Banks, 27, were shot but survived.
Bieber, who was using the name Nathan Coleman at the time, told the jury that the killer was a friend - dubbed "Mr X" by the prosecution - whom he refused to name, claiming he was a loyal friend he would not "stab in the back".
