A NEO Nazi nail bomber who killed three people – including a pregnant woman from Colchester and one of her friends – has failed in a bid to cut his sentence.

David Copeland was given six life sentences in June 2000 for a blast at a Soho pub which killed Andrea Dykes, 27 of Tarragona Mews, Colchester, John Light, 32, of Mill Street, Colchester and Nik Moore, who lived in Suffolk.

Yesterday, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said there was nothing wrong with a sentence that will mean Copeland, now 35, will stay in prison at least until he is in his seventies.

Sitting at the Court of Appeal with Mr Justice Owen and Mr Justice Walker, he said Copeland’s crimes were of the most serious kind.

He said Mr Justice Burton, who set Copeland’s minimum term of 50 years back in 2007, was right to call the murders “exceptionally grave”.

He said: “It is difficult to exaggerate the horror of these appalling crimes, which stemmed, as far as we can see, from the appellant’s abhorrent beliefs.

“Having reflected on this awful case, we have come to the conclusion that the appeal should be dismissed.”

When police searched Copeland’s bedroom they found walls adorned with Nazi flags.

On April 30, 1999 Copeland, who grew up in Hampshire, planted three bombs in London.

The first two, in Brixton and Brick Lane, failed to detonate but the third, at the Admiral Duncan, a gay pub, caused three fatalities and many serious injuries.

At the time, bingo hall worker Mrs Dykes, husband Julian and friend Mr Light, who had just been asked to be their unborn child’s godfather, were having a drink before going to watch Abba musical Mamma Mia.

Mr Dykes, a computer programmer, suffered serious injuries, of including extensive burns and nails lodged in his lungs.

He had been left in a coma for weeks, unaware his wife and child had been murdered.