A man convicted of murdering his wife in a staged Aberdeenshire car crash has had his appeal for his case to go back to court rejected.

Malcolm Webster was jailed for a minimum of 30 years in 2011 for murdering Claire Morris in Aberdeenshire in 1994.

Less than a year after marrying Ms Morris he was hatching a plan to kill her in a staged car crash to cash in on insurance payments.

Some 14 years after an apparent accident, police re-examined the case and Webster was accused of drugging his wife before setting fire to the 4x4 and leaving her to die.

In 2011, he was convicted of her murder and staging a similar attempt to kill his second wife Felicity Drumm in New Zealand.

Webster, who has always maintained his innocence, applied for the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to investigate his conviction and sentence in November 2014.

He had previously lost an appeal against his conviction in September 2013. It has now emerged the commission has rejected this appeal and the case will not be referred back to the High Court.

Peter Morris, Ms Morris' brother, said: "As I've said before with this review I believe he was challenging the system and not the evidence as that has already stood up in court and at appeal.

"The fact that victims and their families are not allowed to know the reasons for the attempted review is disgraceful.

"The fact that he can attempt to get his case reviewed again and again ad infinitum continues to disallow me and my family the basic right of closure."