Becky Watts death: Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare appeals thrown out

Nathan Matthews (middle) and Shauna Hoare (right) were found guilty of killing Becky Watts (left)

The killers of teenager Becky Watts have had applications to appeal their convictions and sentences thrown out.

Nathan Matthews, 29, was jailed for 33 years for murdering his 16-year-old stepsister in a sexually-motivated kidnap plot and dismembering her body.

Shauna Hoare, 22, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 17 years.

The latest ruling comes after a judge rejected an earlier application by the pair to appeal.

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The Court of Appeal said there was no "reasonable argument" the convictions were unsafe or the sentences "manifestly excessive".

The teenager's dismembered body was found after she went missing from her home in Bristol in February 2015.

Becky's disappearance prompted a large-scale police manhunt

Her disappearance was initially treated as a missing person investigation by police.

The trial in November heard she was suffocated by Matthews and her body transported to her stepbrother's home, where it was hidden in a shed.

Jurors were told Matthews and Hoare shared a dislike of Becky and a sexual interest in teenage girls, which were motives in their plot to kidnap her.

Nathan Matthews cut Becky's body up with a power saw he bought from a DIY store

The couple shared texts just weeks before the teenager's death, referring to kidnapping schoolgirls and teen-themed pornography was found bookmarked on a phone which they shared.

In March, Becky Watt's father Darren Galsworthy told the BBC the pair "had destroyed his family".

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Det Insp Richard Ocone, from Avon and Somerset Police, said: "Our thoughts remain with Becky's family and friends who have had to endure several court hearings following the trial last year.

"We hope they will be able to take some closure from this decision which was the last attempt by Nathan Matthews and Shauna Hoare to challenge their prison sentences."

Shauna Hoare exchanged texts with Matthews about kidnapping girls

In February, a carved wooden bench was unveiled in memory of Becky in the city. A community garden is being created in Barton Hill close to where her body was discovered.

Becky's family has raised £4,000 for the Support After Murder and Manslaughter charity which helps bereaved families.

Two other men - Donovan Demetrius, 29, and James Ireland, 23 - were acquitted of a charge of assisting an offender, related to the moving and storage of Becky's body parts.