A mother and daughter dubbed the "lady killers" after being jailed for murdering their husband and father have been granted permission to appeal against their convictions.

Shirley and Lynette Banfield, from Canterbury, say there is no evidence retired bookmaker Don Banfield, who was last seen in 2001, is even dead.

Shirley, 65, was found by a jury at the Old Bailey to have enlisted the help of her 42-year-old daughter Lynette to dispose of Mr Banfield, 63, and profit from his death.

Mr Banfield had recently retired when he disappeared from Wealdstone, north-west London, and – after completing the contract for the sale of his home in May 2001 – was never seen alive again.

A jury found both women, who lived together in Ashford Road, Thanington, guilty of murder by a 10-1 majority in April last year.

The pair, who admitted fraud charges involving plundering £64,000 from Mr Banfield’s pension funds, were jailed for life.

They are believed to have smothered womaniser Mr Banfield in his bed to get their hands on his pension pot and his share of the family home.

Now judges at London's Criminal Appeal Court have granted them permission to appeal against their murder convictions.

William Clegg QC, for Shirley Banfield, argued Mr Banfield had not even been proved to be dead to the criminal standard.

He told the court: "The Crown did not suggest when, where or how he was killed, who was present, the mechanism of death or what happened to the body.

"200,000 people disappear each year, and 2,000 of those are not heard from again... Don Banfield could have been one of those 2,000."

He went on to argue the convictions for murder by way of joint enterpriose should not stand.

No date was set for the full hearing of the appeal.