World’s End murderer Angus Sinclair has failed in a bid to have his sentence reduced for the murders of two teenage girls in the 1970s.

Mr Sinclair, 70, was sentenced to life and told he would serve at least 37 years - the longest minimum jail term ever imposed in a Scottish court - after he was convicted in 2014 of raping and murdering Christine Eadie and Helen Scott.

The 17-year-olds were killed after a night-out at Edinburgh's World's End pub in October 1977, sparking one of Scotland's most infamous unsolved cases.

Their bodies were discovered the following day, having been dumped in remote locations. They had been raped, strangled and bound with their underwear.

Mr Sinclair denied the charges and had claimed the girls consented to sex with him and pointed the finger at his brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton, who died in 1996.

However, DNA analysis eventually proved Mr Sinclair had touched the ligatures used to tie the girls up.

Mr Sinclair was found guilty of the crimes after a five-week trial and, on sentencing, judge Lord Matthews described him as a "dangerous predator, who is capable of sinking to the depths of depravity".

The judge ordered him to spend a minimum of 37 years in jail - the same number of years that the families of the girls had waited for justice.

At the time of his conviction for the 1977 murders, Mr Sinclair had already spent more than half of his life in prison for other crimes, which formed the basis of his legal team's appeal.

Among the submissions from Sinclair's legal team was the question of whether 37 years was "necessary, appropriate and fell within the judge's discretion".

They also argued about whether or not some of his earlier convictions should have been taken into account in determining the punishment part of the sentence as they were events which came after the 1977 murders.

A hearing was held in November but judges have now refused the appeal, meaning the punishment part of Sinclair's sentence will stand.