A homeless man jailed for life for the body-in-the-suitcase murder of teenager Terry Edmonds has lodged an appeal against conviction and sentence.

Philip Bell, 23, was sentenced to a minimum of 28 years behind bars after a judge branded him "an evil man who seems to have no conscience".

Terry, 17, was strangled with her own scarf and sexually assaulted in a car park stairwell, where Bell lived rough, next to Tunbridge Wells railway station on Easter Bank Holiday, April 17 2006.

She was found 12 days later in Bell’s green suitcase, hidden behind a low wall under a ramp.

Former removal man Bell, described by his QC as "a low calibre human being", maintained his innocence throughout the three trials.

Bell was convicted by an 11-1 majority. Two previous juries had failed to agree on a verdict and in an usual move Judge Andrew Patience QC allowed a third trial.

Bell's lawyers will argue in the Court of Appeal in London there was an abuse of process and challenge the length of the minimum prison term imposed.