The man who murdered Auckland hairdresser Marie Jamieson in 2001 has lost his appeal for a lighter sentence.
Joseph Martin Reekers was last year sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years for killing Ms Jamieson.
Reekers' lawyer, Howard Lawry, argued in the Court of Appeal that the sentencing judge had given too much weight to a 1978 conviction for raping a young woman at knifepoint, given the length of time that had passed since then.
He further argued that the judge had placed too much emphasis on the fact that Reekers had stabbed or slit Ms Jamieson's throat, when this had never been proven in court.
However, Justices Graham Lang, Ellen France and Paul Heath dismissed the appeal.
Ms Jamieson's naked body was found behind a west Auckland factory in February 2001, nine days after she was last seen in inner-city Kingsland.
Reekers escaped police for seven years but was arrested in June 2008 after he was forced to provide a DNA sample following his conviction for stealing salami from a west Auckland supermarket.
